Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Bruins held the fifth double session of their 2023-24 training camp on Thursday before their third preseason game on Friday night when they host the Philadelphia Flyers.

Here’s your Boston Hockey Now Camp Wrap from Sept. 27:

First Roster Cuts

The Boston Bruins announced their first training camp roster cuts late Thursday afternoon. Joey Abate, Vincent Arseneau, Justin Brazeau, Curtis Hall, Owen Pederson, Ethan Ritchie, Shane Starrett, and Luke Toporowski will report to Providence Bruins Training Camp.

My Take: No real surprises there. I expected Toporowski to last a bit longer after his play at the Buffalo Sabres Prospects Challenge, but his buzz-saw energy in Buffalo dissipated a bit when he got to Bost0n. In addition to that, the Bruins have an already proven group of bottom-six forwards that can bring that energy.

Sacco Wants Players To Seize Penalty Kill Opportunity

Assistant Coach Joe Sacco filled in for head coach Jim Montgomery, who is in Montreal mourning the death of his mother. Sacco met with the media and explained what their looking for from players who want to seize the new slots open on the penalty kill.

“We lost, obviously a very good penalty killer, but there’s opportunity for guys,” Sacco replied when asked about the current state of the Bruins’ penalty kill. “I think what we’re looking for there is when the forward group is out there, we need guys that can think quickly on their feet because when you’re out there against the five best players from the other team, that puck moves very quickly. So, within our structure, are they able to grasp that quickly? Understand what concepts are on the PK and then apply it on the ice when it’s gameplay.

So, it’s just a matter of getting up to speed, getting guys comfortable in what we’re doing as far as our structure, and then from there, just seeing if they can handle it.”

Here’s what Groups A and B looked like on Thursday:

Group A:

Anthony Richard-Pavel Zacha-David Pastrnak

Brad Marchand-Matthew Poitras-Danton Heinen

A.J. Greer-Marc McLaughin/John Farinacci-Jakub Lauko

Brett Harrison-Georgii Merkulov-Alex Chiasson

Defense

Mason Lohrei-Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm-Kevin Shattenkirk

Derek Forbort-Dan Renouf

Parker Wotherspoon-Reilly Walsh

Goalies

Linus Ullmark

Jeremy Swayman

Group B

Forwards

James van Riemsdyk-Charlie Coyle-Jake DeBrusk

Jesper Boqvist-Morgan Geekie-Trent Frederic

Milan Lucic-Jayson Megna-Patrick Brown

Trevor Kuntar-Johnny Beecher-Oskar Steen/Fabian Lysell

Defense

Matt Grzelcyk-Brandon Carlo

Michael Callahan-Ian Mitchell

Jackson Edward-Alec Regula

Frederic Brunet-Ryan Mast

Goalies

Brandon Bussi

Kyle Keyser

Michael DiPietro

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