Perhaps the Boston Bruins used their day off Wednesday (April 17) to reflect on their two humdrum losses to end the regular season. Or maybe they put those performances behind them and are fully looking ahead to Saturday’s Game 1 of their Stanley Cup Playoffs first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The latter scenario is way more likely because the 2-0 loss to the Washington Capitals and the 3-1 defeat to the Ottawa Senators on Monday (April 15) and Tuesday (April 16) were virtually meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
Some Bruins fans on social media and message boards feel the team lost on purpose: “They had better show up against Toronto,” SPLBruin wrote on HFBoards, which brands itself as the “largest” ice hockey forum. “They literally tanked five of the last six periods to get to play them.”
And then there was this post on X:
Sure enough, with those two losses, the Bruins indeed locked into what can be viewed as a preferable matchup on paper. The Bruins went 4-0 against the Maple Leafs and only 1-1-2 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, who they would have played had they won just one of those last two games.
Related: Bruins’ Beecher Should Be in Game 1 Lineup
To me, though, it’s doubtful there was a mandate from up high to tank the games, and it’s more likely that Boston was trying to reserve some of its energy for the playoffs instead of putting the pedal to the medal and possibly running out of gas and getting worn out unnecessarily. And that thinking bears out in the fact that the defense and goaltending were solid, as usual. But there was close to zero offensive flow or imagination and terrible forechecking and puck-battling until the final period of the last game.
Third Period Against Ottawa Was a Positive Development
On the bright side, the Bruins were mighty impressive in that third period against Ottawa, outshooting the Senators 23-2. That onslaught is a great sign that there’s no reason for fans to have that doom and gloom feeling heading into Saturday at TD Garden.
“Our third period was a brand of hockey, something for us to be confident about going into our preparation for the playoffs,” coach Jim Montgomery said. “We gotta figure out the right puzzle to start Game 1. That’s all that matters now.”
It’s clear captain Brad Marchand wasn’t fretting over the recent skid, mentioning things like “adrenaline” and “excitement” about the playoffs and stating simply, “It would have been nice if we played better.”
And goalie Linus Ullmark added, “It’s a good thing we have a couple of days now before the fun starts.”
Judging by their comments, the future is where the Bruins’ heads are at — as it should be.
Toronto Is Expecting Boston’s Best
The Maple Leafs are not counting on seeing the Bruins team that showed up on Monday and Tuesday.
“They (the Bruins) play a playoff game year-round, so they’re a hard team to play against, and they have some big bodies,” Toronto goaltender Joseph Woll said. “But we’ll be ready.”
Historically, Toronto and Boston have met 16 times in the playoffs, and each has eight victories.
“It will be a must-watch series for hockey fans on both sides of the aisle,” wrote Jim Parsons, Sr., who covers the Maple Leafs at The Hockey Writers, in a Wednesday story.
This takes us to the big question. Will Boston’s funk from Games 81 and 82 continue?
From this vantage point and based on their body of work in 2023-24, when the Bruins hit the ice for Game 1, they will have found the resolve to compete with tenacity against one of their oldest rivals and will be bursting at the seams with much-needed needed new energy and adrenaline.
