Boston Bruins: This is why losing top seed is not a big deal

The Boston Bruins will not be the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference and Tuukka Rask and Bruce Cassidy don’t seem too concerned.

Before the season was suspended, the Boston Bruins were the best team in hockey. No one could stop them and they looked well on their way to the Stanley Cup finals.

But ever since entering the bubble, the Bruins have been playing poorly. They have yet to win a game and that has finally cost the team. Boston no longer is the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

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Now part of this is due to unique circumstances. Normally you wouldn’t have to play seeding games, but with the season being cut short it was necessary.

Also, Boston isn’t playing in front of their fans. It might seem like a small thing, but the TD Garden crowd can be rocking. The Bruins must miss playing in front of their fans.

Boston doesn’t seem too concerned with the fact that they lost the top seed. Both Bruce Cassidy and Tuukka Rask spoke on how the top seed isn’t that big of a deal this year.

"“I really don’t care where we finish,” Rask said. “We just have to focus on our game and try to improve that come Sunday and going into next week. You’ve got to beat everybody anyway, so whatever.”“This is one year I do believe the seeding is less relevant than others,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I think everyone’s discussed that. Would I have rather been No. 1 seed, absolutely, keep it. That’s not going to happen. Like I said, get ready for Washington, play the best game we can. Prepare for the postseason. That’s our ultimate goal. We’ve got to win 16 games. We knew that going in. That’ll still be our goal.”"

Of course, we want to see the Bruins playing better hockey. That should be the main concern, but the results in the round-robin aren’t that important. It’s not like the NHL is going to ship Bruins fans into the bubble if they got the top seed.

At the end of the day, the round-robin games are glorified warm up games. The only thing that they determine is who the Bruins will face in the first round of the playoffs.

We have seen the Bruins take baby steps since their first game. They have woken up and are starting to play better. Boston has one more game and then it’s on to the playoffs.

When they play the Capitals don’t care about the result, watch how the Bruins play. Are they skating hard out of the gate and making plays? Are they playing well in their own zone and not making stupid mistakes.

If Cassidy and Rask aren’t nervous, Bruins fans shouldn’t be either. But if Boston doesn’t improve their game, they will be headed home really soon.