Boston Bruins: Team ready to forget about round-robin
By Sam Minton
The Boston Bruins went winless in their round-robin games and the President’s Trophy winners are now the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.
Headed into Toronto, the Boston Bruins were the hottest team in the NHL. Boston’s first line was on fire and Tuukka Rask was playing great. Now that is not the case.
Boston’s time in the bubble hasn’t been fun. They have played poorly. There is no other way to put it.
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In their round-robin games, Boston showed their rust. They committed stupid penalties and struggled all over the ice.
As the games progressed they ended up playing better. Defending improved and Boston was getting more scoring chances.
Particularly Boston’s bottom line was looking great. Chris Wagner probably had the best time so far. In the three round-robin games, he was the leading scorer with two goals. Also, Charlie McAvoy has performed well with a goal and an assist.
The Bruins will need to improve rather quickly. They begin their playoff journey against a familiar foe on Tuesday. Boston goes up against the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round.
Honestly, Boston’s poor play might have actually helped them. This is all dependent on their ability to turn things around though.
Since Boston is the 4th seed, they won’t have to play the Tampa Bay Lightning until the Eastern Conference Finals (if they make it that far). The road to the Stanley Cup is actually rather easy for the team.
It also seems that Boston wasn’t taking these round-robin games too seriously. Comments by Rask and Bruce Cassidy show that they aren’t too worried.
Tuukka Rask: "These round robin games or whatever they were, you just shake the rust off and try to get back to the team game. It doesn't matter what seed you are because you need to beat them all to advance. Now it's on to the real hockey"
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) August 9, 2020
In a way this is comforting. It almost explains Boston’s poor play. Fans do need to remember just how great Boston was before the season was put on pause. The sky is not falling, the team will be just fine.
Cassidy hasn’t let us down since becoming head coach. He will have the players ready to go and performing at a high level in the playoffs.
Next. This is why losing top seed is not a big deal for Bruins. dark
So get ready Bruins fans, playoff hockey is back.