BUFFALO — When Jonas Gustavsson realized that his heart rate was too high after the first period of the Bruins’ Jan. 26 game against the Ducks, he let the team’s medical staff know. He wasn’t particularly worried, only a bit frustrated. This had happened before.

Team doctors wanted him to leave the game, though he wanted to keep playing. They wanted him to get tests, and he knew that was the best course of action. So Gustavsson was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he remained overnight, and the preliminary results came back negative.

He was cleared to practice a week later (Tuesday), and then cleared to play Thursday, with the Bruins activating him before their game in Buffalo against the Sabres. With Gustavsson’s return, the Bruins sent goaltender Malcolm Subban back to Providence. Subban had served as the backup for Tuesday’s game against the Maple Leafs.

In a press release, the Bruins said, “The final testing is complete and all results have been reviewed by the Bruins Medical Staff. Jonas has been cleared to resume full on-ice participation with the team without any restrictions.’’

This is nothing new for Gustavsson, who has had three ablations done in 16 months to correct the issue with his heart, all of them coming when he was with the Maple Leafs organization. An ablation is designed to correct arrhythmias, or abnormal heart rhythms. The last was in February 2011, five years ago, according to reports from the time.

“They always said that you might have some episodes that it comes back,’’ said Gustavsson. “If it comes back, it’s probably going to be you’re going to notice it less than you did before the ablations.

“They’ve been right the whole time. Before, I could feel it way more. Now maybe I can have some episodes without even knowing it.

“It’s pretty common that you have, for a lot of people, that you have something like this, but you might even go through your whole life without knowing it because it takes a lot for you to feel it.’’

He has been assured that this will not affect his hockey career, other than the occasional missed 10 minutes of practice time.

“I don’t have to worry about it,’’ Gustavsson said. “I can keep working out and doing everything that I want to do because, once again, it’s nothing too serious. It’s nothing dangerous like that. As soon as you hear those words, you’re confident and you’re good to go.

“I see it as a flu or something like that. If it happens, you deal with it for a day or whatever, and then you’re back to playing the next day, hopefully. So I’m not worried about it. I’m glad that it’s looked after and that I’m back to playing again.’’

This was not the first time this had happened since the procedures. So he knew the drill.

“I think a couple years ago pretty much the same thing happened,’’ said Gustavsson. “I was in Detroit at that point, with a new team. So that happened and they wanted to make sure everything was good back then too.

“Everything showed that it was all good, so I think I was cleared the next day to play. Since then, I’ve been good. It was one of those things it’s better to be safe and check what it is.’’

McQuaid joins in

Adam McQuaid took part in Thursday’s morning skate, the first time the defenseman has taken part in a full-team skate since he was hit by Washington’s Zach Sill Jan. 5, suffering what is believed to be a concussion. He has skated on his own before practices since the All-Star break.

“This was his first day with the team, and to get some movement and to be able to pass and be a part of it is obviously a step in the right direction,’’ said coach Claude Julien. “So we continue to evaluate him from there.’’

McQuaid remains on injured reserve. There is no timetable for his return. He would say only that he’s “trying to be smart with making sure that I’m fully ready to come back.’’

Thursday’s game against the Sabres was the 13th he has missed.

“It’s always tough to miss time,’’ McQuaid said. “You want to be a part of things, helping things go in the right direction. It can be difficult missing time, but I’m excited to be back out there with the guys.’’

When discussing his progress, McQuaid was particularly careful with his words, saying that he wanted to keep his focus on where he is right now, as opposed to where he was in the aftermath of the injury. He declined to answer questions about Sill’s hit, which resulted in a two-game suspension.

“I think it’s important, with any injury, when you’re back out there you have to make sure that you’re capable of playing and not being a detriment to the team, I guess,’’ McQuaid said. “You have to be ready to go and there’s no excuses. “

“It’s just important for me right now to find my legs and hands and get into some practices to make sure, again, that I’m ready to go.’’

Johnson draws start

Former Bruins backup goaltender Chad Johnson drew the start for the Sabres, with Buffalo on the second half of a back-to-back. Johnson made 31 saves . . . Thursday’s game kicked off a stretch in which the Bruins play seven of nine on the road, where they have had more success than at home. “It’s nice to know that we’re capable of winning on the road,’’ Julien said. “You’ve still got to win those games, and it’s getting tougher and tougher now with the games at this stage of the season, where teams are really all playing well and playing hard and battling for something. I’m going to tell you, it’s not as easy as it was at the beginning of the year and we really have to battle hard here on the road and hopefully make up for some of those home losses by continuing to be good on the road.’’

Follow Amalie Benjamin on Twitter at @AmalieBenjamin.