Again the Bruins win and don't get much help on the out-of-town scoreboard. Ottawa coughs up a two-goal lead over the WC1 Caps and loses in overtime. Toronto, who's the team just ahead of Boston in the Atlantic, beat the Isles 3-1 tonight as well. The Bruins remain 3 points behind both the Leafs (same number of GP) and the Caps (3 games in hand).
At this point, though, I think the eight teams in the playoff picture in the East right now are pretty set. All the playoff teams have positive goal differentials, all the teams outside have negative ones. The Bruins look pretty comfy in the WC2 slot right now, as the next closest team is Detroit who is 8 points behind having played 3 more games. (And also sporting a -23 goal differential, and losing to Nashville at the moment.)
The Islanders might have a shot to climb into contention as they've only played 34 games thus far and have the least bad goal differential of the non-playoff teams. They've also won 7 of their last ten, but those wins were against: a COVID-wracked Bruins squad, Buffalo, Edmonton, New Jersey, Philly x2, and Arizona. If they start racking up wins against legit playoff teams, maybe we can worry about the Bruins' potential to miss the playoffs, but it's looking unlikely. Those four games they have in hand over the Bs are likely going to make their remaining schedule grueling.
Not sure if there's much advantage w/r/t jockeying for a higher playoff position. Given how condensed the back half of this season is, the more crucial concern might be keeping the team healthy and fresh going into the playoffs.
