With their 2-1 victory over Philadelphia, the Black and Gold officially punched their ticket to the postseason.
But breathing a sigh of relief is not what the team should do now that they know their season will continue past April 10.
With three upcoming games in the next five days against quality opponents who are all fighting to keep their postseason hopes alive, the Bruins will not be able to sit back and relax. Instead, the opposite may ring true, as head coach Claude Julien does his best at solidifying his lineup for the second week of April.
"It’s nice to clinch with more than a game or two [games] left in the season," Julien said. "Now the challenge is going to be to keep our game going in the right direction, and not get complacent or comfortable. Hopefully we can head into the playoffs with confidence and have the team firing on all cylinders."
Shawn Thornton, one familiar with what it takes to win the Stanley Cup (having won it in 2007 with Anaheim), knows that the team cannot sit back and offer opponents the opportunity to walk all over them.
"We want to be playing our style of game going into the playoffs," he said. "So these next seven games are all about getting ready for the postseason. We want to head into the playoffs playing with confidence, not hunting for our game."
Not only do the Bruins want to ride into the playoffs with some adrenaline, consistency, credibility and confidence, but these final seven games will predict where the Bruins end up in the Eastern Conference Standings. Boston, only six points behind No. 1 Philadelphia, has a slim chance of capturing the top seed. More likely than not, the B's will finish second or third, both of which are guaranteed home-ice spots.
"We can’t just be satisfied with the position we're in,"said Bruins forward Milan Lucic. "You never know what can happen. If we keep winning games, we may end up second. Or who knows? We could even end up winning the conference if everything goes right."
The Bruins and their fan base are sure hoping everything does go right this time around. It starts Tuesday night against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.
