March Madness is in full swing, and everyone is keeping a close eye on the games and their brackets. While the NCAA tournament dominates the month of March, the NHL will wrap up its regular season and prepare for the playoffs.
The Boston Bruins are gearing up for a lengthy postseason run with just nine games left on their schedule. And even though hockey and basketball are vastly different sports, the B’s are similar to the North Carolina Tar Heels. ESPN ranked each NHL team to its March Madness match, and it has the Black and Gold ranked at No. 2.
Here’s why, according to Greg Wyshynski:
“A storied, championship program that always has a ton of talent flowing through its pipeline, but can it get past its conference rival, potentially its biggest roadblock to a championship?”
It’s certainly hard to argue with that.
Between Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk, the B’s are stacked with talent. And while they got through the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the first round of last season’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, it was the Tampa Bay Lightning that ended their Cup run.
Boston will enter this year’s postseason with essentially the same roster, and look destined for a rematch against the Leafs. Tampa Bay has been stellar all season and recently locked up the President’s Trophy.
North Carolina lost to Virginia in the 2017-18 ACC Championship Game after defeating Duke, Syracuse and Miami, and were ranked No. 2 heading into the NCAA Tournament, but lost to Texas A&M in the second round.
