The Boston Bruins once again fell in overtime last night, an agonizing defeat to the Montreal Canadiens, given the stakes.
While the positive takeaways include grabbing another point, the Bruins woke up this morning now trailing the Columbus Blue Jackets by points percentage. The idle Ottawa Senators also trail by five points with two games in hand.
However, the extra point did lift them over the Detroit Red Wings for the time being. That slight bump moves Boston into the top wild-card position.
Now, Boston has just two games in the next five days. It's a rare reprieve from a jam-packed schedule.
Tomorrow night brings in the Winnipeg Jets to TD Garden. Winnipeg's gone 6-2-1 in their last nine games, and have clawed their way back into a close distance of the Western Conference Wild Card race, so it'll be a desperate team tomorrow.
Then Saturday Boston will be in Detroit to face the Red Wings, in what is going to be the single biggest game of the season to date, and it's not close.
Boston can only control what it does, and truly, nothing else matters if they can't win more than they lose.
However, there is one other team in the NHL that can do them some very big favors the rest of this week.
The New York Islanders can do some massive favors for the Boston Bruins between now and Sunday.
The Islanders take on the Senators, Canadiens, and Blue Jackets in that order between now and Sunday.
First, the Islanders are in Ottawa tomorrow night. Ottawa's in Washington tonight, so tomorrow when the Islanders catch them, they'll have been in Ottawa for longer than the Senators themselves.
A regulation New York win is the best-case scenario, as it could puncture a deep hole into Ottawa's playoff hopes.
Two days later, the Islanders will be in Montreal to take on the Canadiens during Hockey Night in Canada. Another Islanders win there creates a clear path to the top three seeds in the Atlantic Division if Boston does their part against Detroit and Winnipeg.
24 hours later, the Islanders host the Blue Jackets. One day after the seismic Detroit-Boston game, the Bruins can sit back and watch Columbus and the Islanders go to war.
The most ideal outcome for Boston is a three-straight Islanders wins in regulation, which would create clear separation and give Boston a chance to climb in the standings.
But, the flip side also says if the Islanders run cold and lose those first two games to Ottawa and Montreal, Boston fans can break out their hater hat.
B's fans could then turn around and aim at the Islanders and root for Columbus to bump them. By that point, if New York's lost two straight, Boston (who trails them by 1 point), would likely have passed them while holding the tiebreaker.
It's rare for a team to have this much weight on another's season with three straight games. Beyond Boston's controllable two games Thursday and Saturday, no team is going to swing their playoff odds and positionally more violently these next few days than the New York Islanders.