A reminder of how Bruins have fared against their round-robin tournament opponents
On the surface, the Bruins would be the team with the most to lose under that plan. At the time the league went on break, they had an eight-point lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning for the top seed in the Eastern Conference with 12 regular-season games to play. Barring a catastrophic finish, they were well on their way to locking up the No. 1 seed.
Now they could lose that in just three games. But, it's worth pointing out that there are a couple reasons to not get too hung up on that. One is that all indications are that the playoffs will now take place in hub cities -- likely one per conference -- without fans in attendance, so the entire concept of home-ice advantage goes right out the window.
Another is that none of those top four seeds, including the Bruins, want to go into the conference quarterfinals cold, especially since their opponent will have just played a best-of-five play-in series. Scrimmage games wouldn't bring the type of intensity it takes to get ready for playoff hockey, so this round-robin tournament is one way to ensure those top four seeds play meaningful games before their first series.
Finally, there's no guarantee that anyone's play is going to be reflective of their seeding anyway. There's no precedent for teams returning from a three-and-a-half or four-month break, getting probably three weeks of training camp, and then going right into playoff hockey. The team that was the eighth-best team in the conference before the break -- and therefore presumably the preferred opponent for the top seed -- could very well return from this break playing much better or much worse than what their seed would indicate.
All that said, the Bruins would still rather win this round-robin tournament and hang onto their No. 1 seed than not. With that in mind, it's a worthwhile exercise to take a look back at how Boston has fared against the East's other top-four seeds -- the Lightning, Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers -- this season.
Lightning
Oct. 17: 4-3 shootout loss
Dec. 12: 3-2 loss
March 3: 2-1 win
March 7: 5-3 loss
Capitals
Nov. 16: 3-2 shootout loss
Dec. 11: 3-2 loss
Dec. 23: 7-3 win
Flyers
Nov. 10: 3-2 shootout loss
Jan. 15: 6-5 shootout loss
March 10: 2-0 win
On the surface, the Bruins would be the team with the most to lose under that plan. At the time the league went on break, they had an eight-point lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning for the top seed in the Eastern Conference with 12 regular-season games to play. Barring a catastrophic finish, they were well on their way to locking up the No. 1 seed.
Now they could lose that in just three games. But, it's worth pointing out that there are a couple reasons to not get too hung up on that. One is that all indications are that the playoffs will now take place in hub cities -- likely one per conference -- without fans in attendance, so the entire concept of home-ice advantage goes right out the window.
Another is that none of those top four seeds, including the Bruins, want to go into the conference quarterfinals cold, especially since their opponent will have just played a best-of-five play-in series. Scrimmage games wouldn't bring the type of intensity it takes to get ready for playoff hockey, so this round-robin tournament is one way to ensure those top four seeds play meaningful games before their first series.
Finally, there's no guarantee that anyone's play is going to be reflective of their seeding anyway. There's no precedent for teams returning from a three-and-a-half or four-month break, getting probably three weeks of training camp, and then going right into playoff hockey. The team that was the eighth-best team in the conference before the break -- and therefore presumably the preferred opponent for the top seed -- could very well return from this break playing much better or much worse than what their seed would indicate.
All that said, the Bruins would still rather win this round-robin tournament and hang onto their No. 1 seed than not. With that in mind, it's a worthwhile exercise to take a look back at how Boston has fared against the East's other top-four seeds -- the Lightning, Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers -- this season.
Lightning
Oct. 17: 4-3 shootout loss
Dec. 12: 3-2 loss
March 3: 2-1 win
March 7: 5-3 loss
Capitals
Nov. 16: 3-2 shootout loss
Dec. 11: 3-2 loss
Dec. 23: 7-3 win
Flyers
Nov. 10: 3-2 shootout loss
Jan. 15: 6-5 shootout loss
March 10: 2-0 win
