The Boston Bruins have locked up their spot in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but realize there’s more work to be done.
The Boston Bruins have locked up their spot in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but realize there’s more work to be done.
ARLINGTON, Va. – The Boston Bruins were not in action on Thursday, but they reached an important point in the season. With the Philadelphia Flyers’ 4-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, the Bruins clinched a spot in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Despite all the uncertainty facing Boston over the offseason with the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci as well as other roster turnover from last season’s 65-win team, the Bruins will head to the postseason for the eighth straight year.
“I think we need to be proud of that first step,” Bruins captain Brad Marchand said after Friday’s practice. “We came in together really well this year. We battled through a lot of adversity and a lot of changes in our lineup, and so we have to be proud of that fact, but we can’t get complacent. That’s not what we set out to do at the start of the year. That’s part of the goal, it’s not the whole goal.”
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery, on the other hand, shifted the focus to positioning within the division, acknowledging that he knew his team would be in the playoffs “since the All-Star Break” in February.
Montgomery shook up the lines during Friday’s practice, reuniting some players while mixing up others:
Brad Marchand - Pavel Zacha - David Pastrnak
Danton Heinen - Charlie Coyle - Trent Frederic
Jake DeBrusk - Morgan Geekie - Justin Brazeau
Johnny Beecher - Jesper Boqvist - Jakub Lauko/James van Riemsdyk
Hampus Lindholm - Charlie McAvoy
Matt Grzelcyk - Brandon Carlo
Kevin Shattenkirk - Andrew Peeke
Mason Lohrei - Parker Wotherspoon
Jeremy Swayman
Linus Ullmark
After Boston fell 3-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday, Montgomery is shuffling the lines and pairs in preparation for a Washington Capitals team led by a “big, heavy” top line with Alex Ovechkin and T.J. Oshie. The Capitals are currently holding the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference and are fighting down the stretch to remain in a playoff spot.
Against a desperate team like Washington, Montgomery wants to see the Bruins match their intensity.
“Sometimes the schedule doesn’t help you out, but we didn’t particularly like our battle level [against Tampa Bay], despite the fact that we were tired,” Montgomery said. “That’s where you got to dig in and reach and find another level, and those are the type of things that we’re looking for for more growth.”
For some, that starts with ignoring the standings and approaching each game the same way down the stretch. Out of Boston’s eight remaining games, six are against teams currently in the playoff picture.
You don’t have to tell the Bruins that the playoffs are a different beast than the regular season; look at last season. Even with their spot in the postseason now official, these next eight games are arguably more important than the previous 74 when it comes to putting themselves in the best spot for a potential Stanley Cup run.
“We kind of want to be in that mindset as well that we’re preparing for a bigger goal here as well as they are too,” Brandon Carlo told The Hockey News. “So we don’t want to lose that mindset to take a step back by any means and feel like we’re easy cruising until the playoffs ‘cause that’ll only hurt you rather than help you, so I think for us, we want to stay in the same mindset as everybody in this league and just continue to move forward.”
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