Boston Bruins: 2015/16 Schedule An Improvement From 2014/15
By Jay Peterson
When news came out that the NHL released the schedule for the upcoming 2015/16 season, I quickly looked over the schedule of the Boston Bruins and gave a big sigh of relief. This is because I was worried that the Bruins might be getting a schedule much like they did last year. Fortunately, that is not the case.
Looking back at the 2014/15 season is hard for any Boston Bruins fan, but it is especially difficult when you look at the schedule that they had to deal with. Now, I am not one to make excuses for my team, but when you miss the playoffs by one point, it makes the little things matter that much more. So, I compared the upcoming 2015/16 season to last year’s 2014/15 season and found three interesting, and somewhat frustrating, facts about the schedule.
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First, let us start at the beginning of the season. From October 8th, opening night, to October 18th, the Boston Bruins played seven games. No other team in the NHL played this many games (five teams played six games and the rest of the teams played less). As a result, they began the season with a 3-4-0 record which, when you think about how many days had to play those games in, isn’t that bad. From October 8th to October 18th in the 2015/16 season, the Bruins will only have to play five games (all information gathered is from nhl.com).
The next lopsided stat in last year’s schedule was the amount of back-to-back games the Bruins had to play. Throughout the duration of the 2014/15 season, the Bruins had to play the day after they already played a game sixteen times. Last year’s record for the Bruins in games a day after a game was 5-9-2. This is not surprising as most teams are more likely to lose when playing a game so quickly after another. In the 2015/15, the Boston Bruins will only play in eleven back-to-back games, a huge difference in comparison to sixteen games.
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This last stat is similar to the previous one, but is even harder to swallow. In the 2014/15 season, the Boston Bruins played against their rival, the Montreal Canadiens four times. Every single one of those games was after the Bruins had played another team the day before. Now, if you were curious about whether or not Montreal had played any games the day before those four games, I will admit that they had to do it too, but only once.
This led to the Montreal Canadiens winning all four of those games. Thankfully, in the 2015/16 season, the Boston Bruins will be playing five games against the Montreal Canadiens and none of them will be after playing the day before. Maybe, this year, the Bruins will be able to actually put their best foot forward against their Eastern Conference foes.
As stated above, these findings are not meant to make more excuses about why last year was so unsuccessful. I am simply stating that the year coming up is already looking more promising based on what the team had to endure last year. Hopefully, with this new and improved, Boston friendly, schedule, the Bruins can get back to their winning ways.