B's NewsBlast! - Hail, Hail the Gang's All Here! Kess & Ryder to Play Tonight vs.Devils

According to Fluto Shinzawa from the Boston Globe & as posted on boston.com;

Kessel makes quick recovery, back tonight

WILMINGTON - Phil Kessel has had enough of tracking his teammates on television.

"I hate watching," said Kessel. "It's tough when you want to be out there helping your team. But the boys did a great job."
On Tuesday, prior to the Bruins' 3-2 overtime win over Washington, Kessel got some good news when he was cleared to play by team doctors. Yesterday at Ristuccia Arena, he went through his first full practice with his teammates since his last game, Jan. 10 against Carolina. Barring a last-minute change of plans, Kessel will be back in the lineup tonight against New Jersey after missing only six games because of mononucleosis.

"I'm fine. I'm back," Kessel said. "I got the test done [Tuesday]. I'm cleared. So I'm pretty happy about it."

Kessel, the team's leading goal scorer (24-17 -41 in 42 games), was originally expected to miss a month. However, he thought he was suffering from mononucleosis for several weeks before he was diagnosed.
"I didn't feel very good for a while," Kessel said. "Just wasn't feeling like myself."
In the last nine games before he was sidelined, Kessel totaled only three goals and one assist. Prior to the nine-game stretch, he had scored at least 1 point in 18 straight games.

"I thought I had it for a while," said Kessel, who had been skating on his own prior to yesterday's practice. "I went in there probably about a month before. They said no, but I knew I had it. Whatever, though. It's finished now."
Yesterday Kessel practiced on a line with Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron. If he plays tonight, he is expected to be reunited with regular center Marc Savard, who was given yesterday off along with the team's three other All-Star participants (Zdeno Chara, Tim Thomas, and Blake Wheeler). Kessel should be back in uniform one game after the Bruins welcomed Lucic, Bergeron, and Andrew Ference back.

Kessel wore a protective wrap around his midsection for precautionary purposes - contact to the spleen is dangerous for patients with mononucleosis - but was involved physically in two-on-two and three-on-three drills down low. He stayed on the ice after practice for some skills work with assistant coach Doug Houda.

"He hasn't done much over the last couple of weeks, so it's more about timing," said coach Claude Julien of Kessel. "That's what we tried to do with him at the end of practice, having him work on his skills and handling the puck to see if we can help him get his timing back."

On the bubble Byron Bitz, who threw down with heavyweight Donald Brashear for his first NHL fight Tuesday, could be facing an assignment to Providence as the Bruins return to full health.