Bruins Make Surprise Playoff Appearance Following a Disastrous Campaign

You know, I go on and on about the Boston Bruins' lack of depth, and I had some fun at their expense when they blew that 65-win season three years ago. But when they actually had that terrible year last year and missed out on the playoffs, I was stunned. The Bruins always found some way to get in. Not last year. Everything that went wrong for the Bruins last year? It did. It went so bad for Boston last year that they actually dealt Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers so he could have a chance at a Cup. And he won, too.

A bad Bruins team trading away a heart and soul player so he can win elsewhere. Where have I heard this song before?

All kidding aside, the Bruins entered this season lacking something they never lacked before: expectations. It's always good to have no expectations, because you have nothing to lose. So when the Bruins actually found themselves above the playoff line by the Olympic Break, it was a nice surprise. And they stayed there. They did not waver. The Bruins had a chance to clinch on the final Saturday of the season with a win over the Lightning, but Tampa Bay's late go-ahead goal kiboshed Plan A. There was still Plan B, and the Ottawa Senators actually helped out with that when they shut out the Islanders. Boston now needed a regulation loss from the Detroit Red Wings, and that would come to pass later on, as Detroit was defeated, 5-3, by the New Jersey Devils.

So the Bruins, with no expectations and a deeper team than they had during that 65-win year, are in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It's been a crazy stretch for this team over the years. They're seven years removed from their run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2019, and since falling just one win short of that Cup, they haven't even come close to that magic. Too many faces have changed. Two-thirds of that famed Perfection Line are gone.

But they still have one big name:

David Pastrnak, Boston's goal scoring machine. He's on his way to a 100 point season, but here's the oddity. Pasta having 99 points isn't odd, it's the fact that only 29 of them have went in the net. You know what that tells me? There's depth on that team. Usually, Pasta has 40-50 goals by now, but he's actually not leading the team in goals this year. He's actually third on the team in goals. The goal scoring leader for the Bruins? Morgan Geekie. Who the hell saw that coming?! I remember Geekie wiht the Hurricanes and Kraken, and he was one of those players who got goals when you needed them. But this year, he's really putting them in. 38 goals this season for Geekie. Right behind him: Pavel Zacha with 30. Geekie and Zacha got to 30 goals this season before Pasta did. Are we in Bizarro World?

But it's not just those three; other players have impressed this year. Charlie McAvoy's finally finding his groove. Elias Lindholm has to be happy that he's out of Calgary. Viktor Arvidsson has been picking up key points, as has Casey Mittelstadt. So yeah, this has really been a team effort through and through.

We do know that the Bruins will be one of the Eastern Conference's Wild Cards, but we don't know which one. The Sens and Bruins have the exact same record, but Ottawa has the Regulation Wins category over Boston, so Boston will need to win out and have Ottawa lose a point to get the WC1 spot. It should be interesting to see how the Bruins fare, but even so, it's a win-win situation for the Bruins, as they are playing with house money this year.