Bruins practice news: No update on Smith, Miller still out

With a Game 1 win in the books, the Bruins had an optional practice at Warrior Arena this morning.

While the vibes following Game 1 were certainly positive, the big question revolved around the health of Craig Smith, who left the game in the second period with what the team termed a lower-body injury.

The update? There really isn’t one.

“He’s here today getting treatment,” said Bruce Cassidy to the assembled media. “He’ll give it a shot in the morning if he’s able to. I’ll have a better update then...right now, not much for you.”

Cassidy was also asked by the Boston Herald’s Steve Conroy about the health of defenseman Kevan Miller, who we knew was out for Game 1 but didn’t know much for certain beyond that.

Cassidy noted that Miller didn’t skate with the taxi squad nor did he take part on the optional skate today, so he won’t be available tomorrow.

One note that should bring a sigh of relief, however: Cassidy said that Matt Grzelcyk was in for treatment this morning after looking shaken up by that Leo Komarov hit; however, he said that the fact that Grzelcyk came back and finished the game is a good sign.

He added that the team “should be fine on the back end.”

As Cassidy said after last night’s game, the fact that Smith didn’t return to action is a sign that there’s a problem.

Hopefully, however, it’s one of those things that needs a bit of treatment, some massaging/rest/whatever and is OK for tomorrow. We’ll see!

If Smith is out, the big question becomes who takes his spot.

It seems like Karson Kuhlman would probably be the lead contender, as he’s a right shot.

Cassidy could also opt to shake up a third line that didn’t have its best game last night, and either move Jake DeBrusk or Charlie Coyle to David Krejci’s right.

However, that would likely require breaking up the fourth line by moving Sean Kuraly up, something Cassidy probably wouldn’t want to do given their energetic performance last night.

Kuhlman would be my guess, with the dark horse candidate being Trent Frederic and moving DeBrusk up to play on his off wing.

For the Islanders, it didn’t seem like they had anyone banged up after last night’s game.

Their big question (it’s like deja vu from the Capitals series) appears to be whether or not they stick with Ilya Sorokin in net or bring in Semyon Varlamov.

While Sorokin certainly wasn’t the reason the Islanders lost, he gave up a number of gigantic rebounds and seemed to completely lose track of the puck on a strangely frequent basis.

We are spoiled to not have the goalie debate, eh?