Why health must be Bruins’ top priority before playoffs as injuries pile up originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Bruins still don’t have a firm idea of which team will be their opponent in the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and they probably won’t for a while.
The standings in the Atlantic Division are jam packed with the second-place Toronto Maple Leafs, third-place Tampa Bay Lightning and fourth-place Bruins separated by just four points. The B’s trail the Lightning by only one point entering Tuesday.
The fact is the Bruins will have a very difficult Round 1 matchup regardless of who they play. The Eastern Conference is absolutely loaded this season. Every series is going to be a grueling battle.
Therefore, the Bruins need to worry less about potential playoff matchups and make health their biggest priority over the final three weeks of the regular season.
Without a full or close to fully healthy roster, the Bruins’ postseason run will be quite brief.
A couple of Boston’s most valuable players are currently nursing injuries.
Chief among them is David Pastrnak — the superstar right winger who leads the team with 38 goals and ranks second in scoring with 71 points in 69 games. Pastrnak, who suffered an injury against the Columbus Blue Jackets last week, has been on fire since B’s head coach Bruce Cassidy put him on the second line alongside Taylor Hall and Erik Haula in early January. Only Leafs center Auston Matthews has scored more goals than Pastrnak since Jan. 1.
Super Pasta
Goals since Jan. 1
30
NHL Rank
T-2nd
Variation
Double
It’s not a coincidence that Boston’s power play is experiencing a major slump with Pastrnak out of the lineup. The power play went 0-for-16 on the team’s recent four-game road trip. Pastrnak’s 14 power-play goals are six more than anyone else on the B’s roster.
Bruins fans might want a first-round series against the Leafs — and that would awesome, for sure — but it would be tough for the B’s to eliminate Toronto…