Bruins notebook: Joe Sacco settling in

After the Bruins 2-1 loss to the Red Wings on Tuesday, Bruins assistant coach Joe Sacco, filling in for head coach Bruce Cassidy (Covid protocol), said that he was a little “rusty” running an NHL bench.

Sacco, who was head coach of the Colorado Avalanche from 2009 to 2013, said a day later he was just being sarcastic. But with any form of humor, there was a kernel of truth to what he said.

“I just think you haven’t been in that spot for a while, so you’re making sure that you’re sharp on the bench with your matchups,” said the Medford and Boston University product. “At home, you tend to have more matchups than you would on the road. But I wanted to make sure we had five guys on the ice at all times and not six or four. I tried not to get too consumed with the matchups. I just think it’s more of seeing the game from a different perspective as an assistant coach when you’re watching for certain situations. As (the head coach), you’re trying to oversee everything that’s going on. And I think as the game went on, it’s start to come back a little bit.”

There is no definitive return date for Cassidy, but he’ll have to be out for at least 10 days. That would take him out through at least part of next week’s western Canada trip.

But Sacco, who said on Wednesday that the Cassidy’s symptoms remained mild, said that Cassidy was keeping his finger on the pulse of the team, as one might expect.

“We’re communicating a few times a day,” said Sacco, who has been on the B’s staff since 2014 when Claude Julien was head coach. “He obviously has his input on the lineup and certain lines and other situational things he wants to talk about. I’m pretty much in constant communication with Butch. When the game starts, it’s a little different, but leading up to the game, the preparation, we’re in contact quite a bit. We’ve been together for a number of years, the two of us, so I know how Butch operates for the most part. I think it’s been pretty seamless.”

Smith returns to Music City

Craig Smith was playing in Nashville — where he played for nine years — for the first time since he signed with the B’s prior to the 2020-21 season. Teams played within their own geographical divisions last season.

Smith has had a slow start to his season, thanks to what’s believed to have been a lower body injury, and is looking to find his groove. He’s got 2-2-4 totals in 17 games and is minus-7. But his shot totals are starting to pile up. He’s had 14 shots on net the previous four games going into Thursday’s game against the Predators.

“He’ll be all fired up, as he should be,” said Sacco before the game. “His game is starting to come around. He missed some time with injuries and it’s taken him a little while to get going. But over the last number of games, he’s definitely more noticeable on the ice. He’s always a competitive player, Smitty, he works hard, he gives you everything he’s got. But him finding his shot and getting it on net now, that’s his bread and butter. The more he can get his shot on net and create some opportunities for himself and his linemates, we become a better team offensively. His game’s starting to come to him.”

There was a re-jiggering of the lines heading into Thursday’s game. While Taylor Hall stayed on the top line in place of the suspended Brad Marchand, Erik Haula bumped up to play left wing on the second wing with Charlie Coyle and Smith after Haula played pretty well in the loss to Detroit.

“We’re looking for him to build off his game,” said Sacco. “We thought as a group he played better last game. He used his speed, he was competitive on the puck, which are the things we’ve talked about with him. So I think that he gives that line some speed on the outside and hopefully it will help build his game a little bit to where we feel it can be.”

With Haula moving up, that in turn allowed Nick Foligno to drop down to third line left wing with center Trent Frederic and right wing Karson Kuhlman. That line had played fairly well in the B’s victory over Vancouver before Marchand’s suspension kicked Foligno up to the second line.

Frederic, trying to establish himself as an NHL center after playing mostly on the wing last season and early this season, was happy to have Foligno back.

“He talks a lot out there and makes it a lot easier. He’s a second pair of eyes, he’s very positive, he’s easy to play with,” said Frederic.

DeBrusk carries on

Thursday was Game 2 of Jake DeBrusk’s lame duck Bruin career after his trade request became public on Monday. With Marchand and Anton Blidh (upper body injury) out and the B’s unable to bring up anyone from Providence because of a Covid outbreak there, DeBrusk had to play. And the B’s were expecting his level best. He was set to play on a fourth line with Tomas Nosek and Curtis Lazar.

“I don’t know what his issue is, I just know as a staff, we just work with Jake and try to prepare as best we can to make sure when it’s game-time that he’s ready to help the team any way he can,” said Sacco. “That’s all we want from all our players. We want to make sure that they’re helping their team as much as possible to win hockey games. That’s what we expect from Jake. He’s got to show up, he’s got to be a good pro, he’s got to hold up his end of the bargain. And we have to hold up our end of the bargain and make sure we coach him and make sure he’s trying to help the Boston Bruins win hockey games.”