Thirty-four games into the 2025-26 season, the Boston Bruins are one point out of first place in the Atlantic Division. Is this sustainable, or are they going to crash at some point and fall in the other direction? Time will tell.
After beating the Utah Mammoth, 4-1, to kick off a five-game homestand leading into the Christmas Break, the Bruins are facing some tough opponents. It continues on Thursday night when the Edmonton Oilers make their lone visit to the TD Garden, and with it marks the return of former Boston forward Trent Frederic for the first time since being traded at the deadline back in March.
As far as the Black and Gold go, they sit at 20-14-0 going into the game, and they continue to rise in the power rankings. Why do they continue to rise? There is one mind-blowing stat, but it proves that they are a resilient team under first-year head coach Marco Sturm.
Bruins slow power rankings rise can be attributed to one stat
On Sunday night, they closed out their road trip with a 6-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild. Forty-eight hours later, in a tough turnaround, they rebounded from a slow start to beat Utah by three goals. That win improved Boston to 8-1-0 in their last nine games following a loss. Who had this Bruins team winning eight of nine games after a loss recently to block multi-game losing streaks? Because of that, they are slowly continuing to rise in CBS Sports and Bleacher Report's power rankings.
Lyle Fitzsimmons of Bleacher Report moved Boston up from No. 13 to No. 11 in their latest rankings.
"Raise your hand if you had Morgan Geekie turning into a goal-scoring machine for the streaking Bruins, who've won five of their last six after a Tuesday defeat of Utah that opened a five-game homestand,'' wrote Fitzsimmons.
"Geekie, who had 72 goals in his first 333 NHL games, has 24 in 34 games this season and entered Wednesday trailing only Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon. The 27-year-old forward's current pace would give him 58 goals in 82 games."
As for CBS Sports, Austin Nivison bumped them up a spot on his rankings from No. 12 to No. 11, thanks in large part to center Elias Lindholm.
"Since Thanksgiving, Elias Lindholm has been dishing the puck at a high level. He has 10 assists (and one goal) in eight games over that span. It's an encouraging sign for the Bruins,'' wrote Nivison.
How long can the Bruins keep this up? Moving up and down the power rankings all season long is certainly not out of the question. However, if they are going to win nearly 90% of their games following a loss, they will continue their slow climb to the top.