A day after the Bruins’ emotional comeback victory over the Islanders, coach Marco Sturm made Wednesday’s practice highly optional.

Jonathan Aspirot, just four games into his NHL career, assumed the little carrot wasn’t meant for him. So he was preparing to hit the ice with a handful of other players when he was stopped by Sturm. Take it easy for a day, the coach said.

“There are guys when they play a game or two, they breathe (easy). I don’t see that in him,” said Sturm. “We had just a few guys out (on the ice) and he was ready to go on. And I was like ‘No, take your time. Get your rest.’ He deserved that day off. But he just showed me he doesn’t want to give it up right now. And good for him.”

It’s not all the surprising that the 26-year-old Aspirot doesn’t want to take anything for granted. As a Moncton Wildcat, he went undrafted and is a veteran of over 300 NHL games before he got his first sniff of the NHL this year.

Going into Thursday’s game against Ottawa, the B’s were 4-0 with Aspirot playing on a third pair with Henri Jokiharju. While he’s far from flashy, his game possesses a combo of strength and skating that Sturm has liked.

“He never really shows up in a bad way, because of his skating mobility and his core — he’s very, very strong and thick – he closes a lot quicker than other guys. And he competes. I give him that. He competes hard and he fights for his job every day and that’s really what I like about him,” said Sturm.

Aspirot, signed to a one-year deal for $775,000 in the offseason, had a strong training camp and was one of the last cuts. With teams having most of the their lineup all set and with Aspirot’s lack of NHL experience, there probably wasn’t much danger of him getting claimed at that time. That wasn’t even on his mind.

“I wasn’t really thinking about that. I was just enjoying my time. When I got sent down, I was happy to go down and keep working hard every day,” said Aspirot, who was called up when both Hampus Lindholm and Jordan Harris were out of the lineup.

“I was just happy to be here for a long time in training camp, trying to soak in as much information as possible. You learn new stuff every day, so I was just trusting the process and I was working on my game.”

Despite the long wait, Aspirot never wavered in his dream.

These are things I can’t really control so I just try to focus on myself and getting better every day,” said Aspirot, who valued his journey.

“Every year, you get to meet new coaches, new players, so you learn a lot every year. Hockey is a sport where, whatever age you are, you can keep learning new stuff every year. I think I’ve come a long way and I’m super happy to be here now.”

He got his first shot at the Garden against the Islanders, a day after the Senators handed the B’s their worst loss of the season. He went in for the struggling Mason Lohrei. Most observers figured it would be just for a game, but the B’s kept winning – and he’s stayed in the lineup, playing his fifth straight game on Thursday.

Aspirot may well be one loss away from the ninth floor again. We’ll see. But after a long road, he’s proving that he has something to offer at the NHL level…..

Sturm has made alterations to all his forward lines recently, expect for the one that people were most concerned about just a couple of weeks. The trio of Casey Mittelstadt, Pavel Zacha and Viktor Arvidsson has been one of Sturm’s most reliable lines at both ends of the ice.

Moving Zacha to the middle and Mittelstadt to the wing has been the catalyst for the improved play.

“I think the centerman is always the motor and always the brain on any line,” said Sturm. “Since (Zacha’s) back on center, I think he took that line to another level, not just defensively against a top line of the top opponents but also offensively. I talked to him about it today. That’s something I learned. I used to be very nervous to play against top players. But top players don’t want to play D, I can tell you that. On any team, I don’t care. And if you do your job defensively, you will get your opportunities. That is exactly what this line is doing right now. They’re being connected. They’ve been really good together. Now they’ve figured each other out and they’re playing the right way.”…

After Jeremy Swayman won the previous two games, Joonas Korpisalo got the call to go against his former team on Thursday.