Going into their regular-season final on Tuesday night at the TD Garden, the Boston Bruins still had a lot to play for. Most importantly, securing two points to finish as the first wild-card team in the Eastern Conference. Some players were looking to pad their season stats for one more game.
The Bruins ended any drama against the New Jersey Devils, who helped the Black and Gold secure their Stanley Cup Playoff spot when they rallied in the third period to beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-3, on Saturday night. Mission accomplished as Boston scored early and often to finish the season with 100 points in the standings. Here are three takeaways after the Bruins closed out the regular season 45-27-10.
Bruins blitz Devils with four first period goals
Talk about making an early statement. Boston scored four first-period goals with Morgan Geekie getting the party started with his 39th goal of the season, 53 seconds into the period. Five minutes later, Mark Kastelic scored his first of two goals in the period for a 2-0 lead.
With just over two minutes left in the period, Kastelic made it 3-0, before Viktor Arvidsson tallied his 25th goal of the season with eight seconds left in the period. Boston outshot New Jersey, 12-10, in the period, and the four goals proved to be enough to win the game.
Jeremy Swayman strong in playoff tune up
After getting the night off against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Jeremy Swayman was back between the pipes against the Devils, and he looked playoff-ready. He stopped all 21 shots New Jersey threw at him for his second shutout this season and 18th in his career.
If the Bruins are going to have any chance of pulling off a first-round upset, they will need Swayman to come up big in the series as he did two years ago against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Bruins power play enters playoffs without much action
One thing that might concern Sturm a little bit, entering the playoffs, is the lack of power play opportunities over the last three games of the regular season. In fact, Tuesday night's game was the second straight game where Boston did not get a power play attempt.
They got one in the final seconds of Saturday's loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at home and failed to convert. Before the Olympic Break, the man advantage was going well, but it has struggled since then. It would have been nice to get some work on it, but it didn't work out.
Bruins get Buffalo in the first round of the playoffs
The NHL won't admit it, but they must be excited that Stanley Cup Playoff hockey is back in Western New York. Another thing the league won't admit, but I'm sure they're excited for too, is that their first-round opponent is the Boston Bruins. The series will begin at some point this upcoming weekend.
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