The grind of the Eastern Conference playoff race was never more evident than what has happened to the Boston Bruins' playoff chances over the past week. The Bruins won five consecutive games before heading to Florida for the Stadium Series and a game against the Panthers, but after losing both games in shootouts, the ground they made up nearly vanished.
The Columbus Blue Jackets have won nine of their last ten games, and the Toronto Maple Leafs won three in a row in their pre-Olympic break road trip to get within four and six points, respectively. All of a sudden, with the Bruins' playoff chances looking great a week ago, the players need to be ready for a battle as soon as the Olympics end.
There will be no time to ease themselves back into the schedule. The first game back on February 26 will be a home date with the Blue Jackets, who could make things very uncomfortable if they grab a victory in regulation.
The Blue Jackets will be the more well-rested group after the break. Columbus has just two players, Elvis Merzlikins (Latvia) and Zach Werenski (USA), heading to Milan for the tournament. Meanwhile, the Bruins will have nine players in Milan, with many likely to play in the tournament's final days, as the USA, Sweden, Finland, and Czechia all have a good chance of playing for a bronze or gold medal.
If you want to take a positive spin, a lot of the Bruins will still be in game shape, while this first game could be a chance for Columbus to skate off the vacation rust. Nevertheless, if Boston doesn't come out with any more urgency than they did in their final game against Florida, it might not matter.
Bruins' playoff chances at the pre-Olympic break
The Bruins still have a 61.9% chance of making the playoffs, according to MoneyPuck. The belief is also that the Blue Jackets' surge under their new head coach will slow a little post-Olympics, and there is a low chance they can keep up the pace. Couple that with the Maple Leafs trending toward being sellers despite being just six points back, and the Bruins are still in a fine spot.
The goal for the Bruins out of the playoff break has to be to start making up ground on the Atlantic Division teams in front of them. The Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens, and Detroit Red Wings are all in striking distance, and with the uncertainty behind them in the standings, Boston needs to get out of the last wild card spot.
Some of the teams behind them aren't going to slow down, and the Bruins are the team most susceptible to a surge if they can't move ahead of the other teams. While fans had interest in the front office still selling at the deadline, we've come too far with this fun roster not to see it pay off with some playoff hockey.