By: Brandon Murdock | Follow me on Twitter/X @Brandonmurdoc11
It is officially game 82 of the season for the National Hockey League’s Boston Bruins, meaning after tonight, the team is back to postseason hockey after a one-year hiatus. The B’s will be hosting the New Jersey Devils for the third and final time this season. Puck drop between the Bruins and Devils from TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, is set for 7pm and can be seen on NESN and MSG.
The Bruins come into tonight’s home game season-finale with a record of 44-27-10, holding the first wild card in the Eastern Conference. While the Devils, who currently sit in seventh position in the Metropolitan Division, have a 42-36-3 record on the year. The Devils have already been eliminated from postseason contention.
The season series has been split between the two teams, with the Bruins taking the first game on December 6th by a score of 4-1 in Boston. The Devils got revenge a few months later on the road in New Jersey at the Prudential Center on March 16th, with a 4-3 overtime victory. The Bruins are not only looking to take this regular-season series but also to carry momentum into the playoffs after a tough start to April, a month that saw them lose their first five games.
The Bruins are fresh off a 3-2 victory Sunday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets, backed by former Blue Jacket Sean Kuraly’s three-point night, his first of the season. The win put an end to the Bruins’ five-game losing streak. This was also the much-anticipated debut of James Hagens, who recorded the first point of his career on a second-period assist.
While this game means little to the Devils, who have already started planning their summer vacations, it is still important to Boston. With a win, they can officially clinch the top Eastern Conference Wild-Card spot.
Despite being eliminated, the Devils can still cause the Bruins some headaches. They are 5-4-1 over their last ten games and are coming off a 4-3 overtime victory against the Ottawa Senators. The Devils are led by U.S. Olympic hero Jack Hughes, who has 77 points on the season and 15 goals since returning from Milan, Italy, at the end of February.
The Bruins will also have to look out for the likes of Jesper Bratt (71 points) and Nico Hischier (66 points). New Jersey is not the league’s highest-scoring team; as it is currently tied for 26th in goals per game at 2.79. But they spread their scoring, with five players over 20 goals this season. So there will be plenty of guys who can light the lamp.
The Bruins have some snipers of their own to counter. David Pastrnak is coming into this game with 99 points and is one goal away from the ninth 30-plus goal season of his career. Morgan Geekie, who leads the team in scoring with 38 goals, has been on a tear since the calendar flipped to April, where he has four goals in six games played.
Despite all this, Bruins fans are most excited to see Hagens make his TD Garden debut tonight. Against Columbus, you could clearly see him getting more and more comfortable with every shift. Head Coach Marco Sturm also showed trust in the 19-year-old Long Island native, as he kept putting him on the ice late in a one-goal game. Possibly an audition of how he deals with pressure with the Stanley Cup Playoffs up next. It will be interesting to see how he continues to adapt to the National Hockey League and what he does tonight.
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