Boston Bruins Weekly Predictions: Top Of The Atlantic

After playing arguably the two best teams in the NHL, the Boston Bruins managed to get three of a possible four points. Now, the Bruins start the week playing back to back games against the two best teams from their Atlantic Division, the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. These games are followed by two more games against playoff bound teams from the Eastern Conference in the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Islanders. If all goes well, the Boston Bruins could find themselves at the top of the Atlantic Division standings by the end of this week.

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I’m not necessarily saying that this will happen to Florida, but it seems to be the same story thus far. The difference for the Panthers would be how effective their inexperienced team can be in the playoffs and that will have a lot to do with how they finish in the standings. The Bruins will have a great chance to feel this team out in what could be a first round matchup. Jonas Gustavsson did not start last week and I would like to see him in this game and really steal the show. I’m also looking for Jimmy Hayes and his line mates to outplay Florida’s depth lines. I have Boston winning this game 3 to 2, during 3 on 3 overtime.

Bruins v Lightning

The chances that the Boston Bruins would play either Florida or the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs are very good, as of right now. It would be great to see the Bruins play a full sixty rough and tough game to throw the Lightning off their game plan, but, unfortunately, at this point in the Bruins difficult schedule, I don’t see the players having enough energy to last against this Lightning team. I see Tuukka Rask having a good game but being hung out to dry too often leading to the Lightning scoring a few too many, taking the game 4 to 1.

Bruins v Hurricanes

This will be John-Michael Liles’ first game back against his former team, the Carolina Hurricanes. I am still a little confused as to why the Hurricanes traded Liles when they are still very much in the playoff picture, but it is nice to have him on our side. As said, Carolina is one of the final teams fighting for those Wild Card spots and although the Boston Bruins are distancing themselves nicely from those positions, it is still important that teams like the Hurricanes are beaten so that their chances of making a push are diminished.

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It would not surprise me to see Jonas Gustavsson start another game this week, with this one being it. Boston goes on a California road trip next week and will need Tuukka Rask to be as rested as possible so that he can play those teams with fresh legs. Carolina will give it their all in a desperation attempt to remain in the playoff picture. This will earn them an extra point but the Bruins will finish them off in a shootout with the final score being 2 to 1.

Bruins v Islanders

This game will mark the end of a schedule in which the Boston Bruins have not had two straight days off since February 7th and 8th. That’s more than a month in which the Bruins were either playing a game every other day, or in some cases, three games in four nights. That kind of schedule will exhaust a team and, like the game against the Lightning this week, I just feel that the New York Islanders will be too much to handle. Again, Rask will perform extremely well, but he will not have enough support from the rest of his team. This will result in the Islanders winning this game 3 to 2 in regulation.

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It seems that whenever the Boston Bruins are within reach of taking the Atlantic Division lead, they manage to lose a few games and bring themselves closer to a Wild Card spot. At the same time, whenever they are getting to close to the Wild Card teams, they put together a week like last week and put themselves back in the running for the Atlantic Division lead. It would really be nice to see Boston push to leap over Florida and Tampa Bay, but it’s one thing to hope for it and another to actually do it.