If the Boston Bruins are going to get back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a second straight season, the final stretch of their year may be where the work gets done. That kind of finish could be especially brutal if the Eastern Conference race turns into the kind of knife fight it was last season.
Boston ended up as the top Eastern Conference wild-card with 100 points and didn’t lock up its spot until the last weekend of the regular season, when the Detroit Red Wings lost to the New Jersey Devils. The Bruins then drew the Buffalo Sabres in the opening round and were bounced in six games by the Atlantic Division champs.
And that division looks stacked again.
The Atlantic is shaping up to be one of the league’s toughest groups, with a number of teams taking steps forward from last season. The Toronto Maple Leafs also won the NHL Draft Lottery and wound up with Gavin McKenna, adding even more weight to an already loaded division.
The Bruins’ April schedule reflects exactly how crowded and unforgiving that race could be:
April 1: at Buffalo Sabres, 7 p.m.
April 3: vs.
Tampa Bay Lightning, 3 p.m.
April 5: at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m.
April 7: at Buffalo Sabres, 7:30 p.m.
April 9: at Florida Panthers, 7 p.m.
April 10: at Tampa Bay Lightning, 8 p.m.
That is a brutal run. Five of the final six games are on the road, and every one of them comes against a division opponent. The league would probably love nothing more than to watch Boston and those teams battle it out with playoff positioning on the line.
The most eye-opening part? The Bruins will visit Buffalo twice in six days, first on April 1 and then again on April 7. That’s a playoff rematch in Western New York, and it’s no soft landing.
Boston also gets two shots at Tampa Bay, plus one more trip to South Florida to face a Florida team that is expected to be good. Toronto, of course, could easily have something to say about the whole thing.
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Locmelis offered an encouraging update after his shoulder surgery in March, saying he is fully healthy again, while Biasca was taking part in his first NHL rookie camp after signing a two-year deal in June. For a team looking to stock its lower lines and fill out future depth, those are the kinds of developments that matter most right now, even with the bigger camp decisions still weeks away. [Read more 🡒]