After a 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night, the Boston Bruins maintain a slim three-point cushion over the Florida Panthers atop the Atlantic Division standings. Last year’s opening-round opponents have been battling it out for first place for the second half of the season, with Florida recently holding the top spot briefly.
In 2022-23, the Atlantic Division title and Presidents’ Trophy race were never questioned, as Boston compiled the greatest statistic season in NHL history. However, their projections changed in the offseason when Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retired, but the Bruins have defied the odds all season, earning a 46-18-15 record with 107 points in 79 games.
Even though the 2023-24 season hasn’t been easy, including losses in 15 overtime games, the Bruins still lead the division and are within three points of repeating as Presidents’ Trophy winners. Considering the “curse” that happens to the league’s best team in the playoffs, Boston should abandon that chase and focus on holding off the Panthers and Toronto Maples Leafs to earn a favorable top spot with another Atlantic Division title.
Bruins Final Three Games Feature Two Playoff-Hungry Teams
The NHL regular season ends next Thursday, April 18, but the Bruins skate for the final time in 2023-24 on Tuesday night against the Ottawa Senators, the 26th-ranked team in the league. However, before that gauge-type matchup, Boston has to contend with the Pittsburgh Penguins (Saturday) and Washington Capitals (Monday).
For those who may not have been checking box scores or peeking at the NHL standings every day, the Penguins and Capitals are in the midst of one of the most intense battles for the final wildcard spots in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins will skate against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday before the Bruins matchup on the weekend, giving them one more chance to improve upon their 6-1-3 record in their past 10 games.
Meanwhile, the Capitals will also play the Sabres and the Tampa Bay Lightning before their showdown with Boston on Monday. After an 11-6-2 stretch in February and March got them back into the wildcard race, they’ve recently squandered their position by going 4-4-2 in their past 10 contests, which includes a six-game winless streak that ended on Tuesday.
Considering the importance of these games, head coach Jim Montgomery will not have the luxury of resting stars like David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, or Charlie McAvoy since the Bruins can’t afford to lose games and risk their spot in the standings. When previewing Boston’s next two games, fans will not fondly look back at the season series between the Penguins and Capitals.
Despite splitting the series with both clubs thus far, the Bruins lost to Pittsburgh on January 4 in a wild affair that featured 11 goals, including six in the first period alone. It was quite the opposite of a dominant 5-1 Boston win in the last meeting on March 9.
As crazy as those Penguins games have been, the contests against Washington have been different. In the first meeting on February 10, the Bruins played one of the laziest games of the season, finishing the evening with a season-low 18 shots in a 3-0 shutout defeat. Then, in their second meeting, just a week ago, the Bruins escaped with a 3-2 shootout victory when defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk scored in the fifth round.
The Penguins and Capitals are led by future first-ballot Hall of Famers Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, respectively. With a combined four Stanley Cup titles, both players know what it takes to win important games. Since Boston has been rivals with both franchises since their inception, Pittsburgh and Washington aim for two points for their playoff lives and play spoiler.
As mentioned, the Bruins are not guaranteed wins. Despite building up a reputation of taking it easy for several periods during games, these two upcoming contests are worth an invaluable four points in the Atlantic Division, which could give them a significant advantage over the Panthers, who play the Columbus Blue Jackets and Sabres next.
Boston Ends Season Against Senators
The next two Bruins games will be intense affairs, with scrappy teams led by veterans looking for one more shot at glory. Once Boston passes those two road tests, they will host the Senators at TD Garden to close the regular season. There is no love lost between these two rivals despite the Bruins’ 2-0-0 record against their Canadian rivals, beating them 6-2 and 3-2 in overtime.
After many hockey experts projected the Senators to be a playoff team, they have struggled through the regular season, firing their coach and maintaining a spot at the bottom of the standings. They haven’t had anything to play for all season and are 6-4-0 in their last 10 games.
Even though the Bruins have a 22-point advantage over the Capitals, 23 points over the Penguins, and a 35-point cushion over the Senators, there’s no rest for the weary in the season’s final days. At 107 points, Boston continues to chase the New York Rangers (110) and Carolina Hurricanes (107) for the Presidents’ Trophy, an honor they won last season but that only led to a first-round playoff exit.
Given the small history of the NHL’s best team winning the Stanley Cup since 1986, with only eight teams achieving both feats in the same season, the Bruins should give up on the dream of raising another Presidents’ Trophy banner in TD Garden and focus on wrapping up the Atlantic Division title. When looking at the standings, Boston has 46 wins, the least amount (tied with Toronto) out of the nine teams to collect 100 points this season; in a tie amongst the top teams, the odds are not in their favor.
Therefore, securing a home-ice advantage by winning the division would be an outstanding achievement. Unless Boston faces off against New York in the Conference Final or play the Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup Final, the Bruins would host any Game 7 at home, a place filled with many triumphs and tragedies.
Considering a lot has to fall into place for the Bruins to repeat as Presidents’ Trophy winners, the Atlantic Division crown is within their grasp and should be their primary focus over the next eight days.
