The Boston Bruins needed last night’s win. They needed it to stop Detroit from claiming the third playoff spot for the Atlantic Division. They needed it to stay alive in the playoff race. Finally, they needed to show the fans and themselves that there wouldn’t be a repeat of the collapse of last year. The Boston Bruins routed the Detroit Red Wings 5-2 at the TD Garden and now have a 75.4% chance of making the postseason.
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Now it’s mostly in the Bruins’ court. The B’s will end up with the third spot in the Atlantic or the second wild card in the East. It all depends on how the Bruins, Wings, and Flyers play on Saturday (and in the Flyers case, Sunday as well).
If the Bruins can bring the same kind of complete game they brought against the Wings, than the B’s should be OK. The B’s kept the Detroit Red Wings to just 15 shots on goal. That complete game had five different players score goals. One of those players broke a 55-game scoring drought.
That player was defenseman Torey Krug. It took 159 shots on goal between December 4 and April 7 for that puck to go in. That goal turned out to be the game winner for Boston. The Bruins win gives them 93 points and ties them with Detroit, and puts them one point ahead of the Flyers.
“It was huge,” said Krug, who earned First Star of the Game honors due to his goal and two assists. “We’re in a position where we can continue to live and hopefully get some more help and Saturday we have a job to do.”
The Bruins playoff hopes have certainly brightened. The Bruins have to beat Ottawa, a team that they have beaten before. Detroit has to beat the New York Rangers. The Philadelphia Flyers have to take on the Penguins and the Islanders in a back-to-back. The Flyers are right now a coin flip (50.2%) to make the postseason and a lot of things could go wrong for them.
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“It’s fun,” said Krug of the game. “I mean, obviously you’d like to be in a different position where your playoff spot is secure, but you want to play in big games and important games, and you want to be the guy that helps your team win. So, I think right now we have a lot of guys in this locker room that want to help out that way.”
“(We) just realize how important it is to have every single guy pulling their load and committed to the system and moving forward. We played great, but that game is over with. We have another big test, and we’ve got to just realize that and bring the same effort Saturday.”
Let’s hope Torey Krug and the rest of the Bruins have enough in the tank for one more amazing game to finish out the regular season.