Boston Bruins Playoff Chances Improving In Final Week.
The playoff race is in the final stretch and the Boston Bruins are certainly in the thick of it. As of right now, the Bruins now occupy the third playoff slot in the Eastern Conference. They got bumped up thanks to the Washington Capitals beating the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 this evening. The B’s and the Wings have the exact same record, but the B’s win it due to the tie-breaker.
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While the Bruins are finally out of the wild card spots and into the third position, there is still plenty of hockey to be played in the last three games. The Bruins are playing their last three games on the road, and the opponents certainly won’t provide a cake walk for the Black and Gold. The Bruins will take on the Capitals (who now have a guaranteed playoff berth) on Wednesday. It’ll be one of Alex Ovechkin‘s last chances to pad his lead for best goal scorer in the league, and he’ll certainly do his best to make life difficult for the Bruins.
The Bruins will get to say farewell to a couple of old friends during this last away stretch. Former Bruins Jaromir Jagr and Shawn Thornton will be waiting for the B’s as they pull into Sunrise on Thursday to take on the Florida Panthers (who were eliminated as a potential playoff contender earlier last week). B’s fans will get one more chance to see #22 and #68 as they try to play spoiler against their old team.
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Finally, the Bruins wrap up the regular season on Saturday with another contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bruins will need to finish out the season playing some of their best hockey against one of the league’s best teams.
At the moment, the numbers are only getting better and better for the Bruins. After tonight’s match-ups (factoring in a Washington win, a Detroit loss, and Ottawa falling in a shoot-out) the Boston Bruins now have a 83.7% chance of making the playoffs (up over fifty percent from three weeks ago). Their chances of winning it all have now gone up as well. While it’s not very much (1.7%), it used to be zero.
Looking at the remainder of the playoff hopefuls, their numbers have done nothing but drop in the last few weeks. Pittsburgh and Detroit were virtual locks for the post-season at the beginning of March. Now, it’s not as clear for either of them. Pittsburgh chances have dropped another 4.1% this week (91.7%), and Detroit’s have dropped over five percent (90%). The once relatively safe Senators continue to tumble. With their most recent loss, their chances are now a rough 26.1%. They’ll have to play perfect hockey just to stay in contention.
While it’s not a guarantee, the Boston Bruins have pulled off a bit of an upset and have stormed their way back into Stanley Cup consideration.