While the regular-season finale doesn't hold any significant meaning for the Boston Bruins, captain Patrice Bergeron looks forward to taking the ice against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.
And Bergeron's reasoning is multi-faceted.
"For sure, it's special. As you get older, you realize there's less games ahead of you than behind and you want to enjoy and appreciate every moment and every situation," Bergeron told reporters, per the Bruins. "Obviously, being back in my home province, I have some family members here tonight. It's very special."
The Black and Gold have given veterans time off during recent weeks with Bergeron and others, specifically, not traveling on a two-game trip earlier this month and staying home Sunday when the Bruins set the league's win record in Philadelphia. That well-deserved time off helped players recover after a historic season, but with the postseason less than a week away, the B's now want to use their regular-season finale as a tune-up game.
"Throughout these last few weeks I think we've done some of that, resting guys and healing some of the bumps and bruises of the season," Bergeron told reporters. "But as we got closer to playoffs we thought it was a good idea to play some games and get involved in those before the start (of the postseason).
"It's usually a quick turnaround so you want to stay sharp," Bergeron continued. "And for us, I think we want to work on things and get better and also it makes us stick to our process and our details that we've talked about all year, that we're in the moment and we want to worry about tonight's game rather than next week."
Jeremy Swayman will start in between the pipes for the Bruins with coach Jim Montgomery acknowledging how he wanted to give Boston's goaltender another chance to see pucks before the playoff run.
The Bruins will have their first-round opponent determined Thursday night with their playoff run likely to start Monday.
