Bruins Potential Postseason Defense?

When the Boston Bruins beat the New Jersey Devils, 3-0, Monday night, they officially punched the fourth and final postseason berth in East Division. With four regular-season games remaining, it will be interesting to see how Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy plays the remaining games in terms of rest for some of his veteran players.

Tuesday night, Brandon Carlo made his return from an oblique injury against the Devils. With Carlo back in the fold and the Bruins getting healthy on the blue line, Cassidy may have tipped his hand as to who is planning to suit up for the playoffs on defense in a couple of weeks.

Tuesday, Cassidy said he probably will use Charlie McAvoy, Matt Grzelcyk, Carlo, newly acquired Mike Reilly, Kevan Miller, and Jeremy Lauzon on his six defensemen in the first round.

If everyone remains healthy through the final four games, there is no denying that these should be the six blueliners to play in the playoffs.

What will the pairings be? That remains to be seen, but the acquisition of Reilly from the Ottawa Senators at the trade deadline gives the Black and Gold a solid top-four. At the time of the deal, it could be considered an under-the-radar deal, but Reilly has been very good for the B’s.

In a perfect world, McAvoy and Grzelcyk would be the top pairing, with Reilly and Carlo the second one. Miller and Lauzon as the third pairing gives the Bruins some physicality.

Lauzon has been one of the Bruins’ top penalty-killing defensemen and getting a Carlo back gives Cassidy another penalty killer on the back end.

Eventually, we will find out who the six defensemen are before the Bruins start their series, but there’s no doubt that the blue line will have a little different look than what was thought at the beginning of the season.