For the most part, it’s been a pretty successful regular season for the Boston Bruins.
The B’s have the third-most point in the league with 103 and have all but locked up second place in the Atlantic Division.
But back-to-back losses have kept the Toronto Maple Leafs in contention for home-ice advantage in the teams’ matchup in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. With three games left in the regular season, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy is trying to find the right balance between resting players and playing out the rest of the season.
“Obviously, we’d like to get to the point where we have the luxury of resting people,” Cassidy said, via the Boston Herald’s Steve Conroy. “We’ve also said we want to play for what’s in front of us, which is second place. We’re allowing some of that opportunity get away from us. Of course, so have some of the teams behind us, chasing us.
“We’re going to have to evaluate what’s more important. We’ve got three more games. We’re not going to rest players for a week. That won’t happen. I don’t think any team does that. But there could be select games and I think there should be. I just don’t know which games. I was hoping we could cherry pick them this week, but it’s not the case right now. But we may have to do that anyway.”
Rest certainly couldn’t hurt much for some players.
David Krejci has played in all 79 games this season while Brad Marchand, who sits at 98 points, has played in 78.
The Bruins close out the regular season this week with road games against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild before wrapping things up against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning in the finale on Saturday.
Ideally, the B’s will secure second place sooner rather than later to give Cassidy the freedom to play with his lineup as he sees fit.
