The Boston Bruins will attempt to reach the Stanley Cup Finals for a second straight season when the 2020 NHL playoffs begin on Tuesday night. Boston went 0-3 in the round robin tournament during the NHL restart, finishing fourth in the Eastern Conference setting up a first round best of seven series with the sixth seeded (reseeded to fifth) Carolina Hurricanes. All Eastern Conference playoff games of course are being held without fans at the Scotiabank Bank Arena in Toronto.
Last season the Bruins made easy work of Carolina in a four game sweep in the Eastern Conference Finals, on their way to a seven game Stanley Cup Finals loss to the St. Louis Blues. The Hurricanes have hit their stride in the restart, finishing off a three game sweep of the the number 11 New York Rangers in the qualifying round. Sebastian Oho who was the leading scorer on the team when play was halted in March, tallied three goals and five assists against the Rangers. Andrei Svechnikov also got his game going adding three goals and a pair of assists in the series win. Petr Mrazek who has been the main goaltender in the regular season, won two out of the three games against New York with a 1.50 goals against average. James Reimer is the backup netminder. Carolina also expects to have defenseman and former Bruin Dougie Hamilton back in the lineup when the puck drops Tuesday night. Hamilton did not play at all in the series with the Rangers, and hasn’t been in the ‘Canes lineup since mid-January because of injury.
Boston definitely didn’t look the team that captured the Presidents Trophy back in March with the best record in the NHL. Goal scoring and the powerplay struggled as the Bruins lost to the Flyers, Lightning, and Capitals in the round robin. Some may say that the team just tried to stay healthy and that seeding wasn’t all that important. Brad Marchand said after the loss to Washington Sunday afternoon, that those were just “exhibition playoff games”. Nevertheless, not being in sync as they had been when play stopped in March is concerning and it can be expected they will have a tough series with Carolina. Boston was outscored 9-4 in the three losses, and went 0-9 on the powerplay. Tuuka Rask had a 2.55 goals against in his two losses, while backup Jaroslav Halak allowed four in the loss to Tampa. The Bruins may decide to go with Halak for game three, with a quick turnaround from Thursday nights game two and then game three scheduled to take place Saturday afternoon. Face-off for game one is set for 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Prediction: Expect Boston to turn it around now that the real playoffs are about to begin. The Bruins have a deadly first and second line that is considered two of the best in the entire league and the powerplay and goaltending will find their way. David Pastrnak (95), Marchand (87), and Patrice Bergeron (56) who lead the team in points coming into the three games of the tournament, only combined for one assist in the three losses (Bergeron assist). Don’t expect an easy series like last years ECF Final against this same team, but expect the black and gold to advance to the second round. Bruins in six games.
#4 Boston vs #5 Carolina 1st round playoff schedule:
Game 1- Tues Aug 11 8 p.m. Boston home team
Game 2- Thurs Aug 13 8 p.m. Boston home team
Game 3- Sat Aug 15 12 p.m. Carolina home team
Game 4- Mon Aug 17 8 p.m. Carolina home team
*Game 5- Wed Aug 19 time TBD Boston home team
*Game 6- Thurs Aug 20 time TBD Carolina home team
*Game 7- Sun Aug 23 time TBD Boston home team
*- if necessary
