The Boston Bruins outshot the New Jersey Devils 40-15 but lost 2-1 and fortunately received help from the Montreal Canadiens, who defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 shortly after the Bruins game ended last night. The Bruins loss is their sixth in seven games.
Boston still remains in third place in the Atlantic Division and is one point (88) ahead of Detroit (87) with St. Louis and Chicago up next on this four-game road trip. No easy task for a team that has gone 1-6-0 since going 5-0-2 after the trade deadline. Both teams have 77 games played but Philadelphia, who currently holds the second wild card spot, sits at 75 games played with 87 points as well.
St. Louis and Chicago sit second and third in the Central Division and are separated by six points. If things hold up the way they are now, this would be a first round playoff matchup. St. Louis can still overtake Dallas for first place and Chicago will not pack it in just yet so the Bruins should expect both teams to come at them hard. The Bruins lost 2-0 to the Blues in December and beat the Blackhawks 4-2 at the beginning of March.
Brad Marchand scored his 35th goal of the season to tie the game at 1 in the second period but thats all the Bruins offense could get. Loui Eriksson, Matt Beleskey, and David Pastrnak had the best Bruins chances of the night but were all shut down by Devils net minder Keith Kinkaid. Devils goal scores were Travis Zajac and Reid Boucher.
Next: Weekly predictions: Marching to the Playoffs
The Bruins will have two days off before they face-off against the Blues. The standings will not reflect any changes that significantly affect the Bruins as the Flyers play Wednesday night and the Red Wings are off until Friday as well. The Bruins somehow still control their own destiny.