NHL Scoreboard Watching For Bruins Fans: March 28 Edition

By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) -- The Bruins don't like to make the end of the season easy. And so, here we are for the second straight day, taking a long look at the NHL schedule and seeing how it impacts their playoff chances.

Last night had some good and some bad for the Bruins.

The good news: The Islanders lost to the Predators, thereby preventing the Islanders from moving into a virtual tie with the Bruins for the final wild-card spot. The Bruins do have the tiebreaker advantage (ROW), but a New York loss prevented the tie in the standings points for the time being.

That game was New York's "game in hand," so for the time being, the Bruins and Islanders have the same number of games played (75).

The bad news: Tampa Bay won in overtime on a Yanni Gourde (who?) snipe to beat the Blackhawks. The win allowed the Lightning to leapfrog the Islanders in the standings, and they now sit just one point behind Boston. That, too, was Tampa's game in hand, so as of today, the Bruins, Islanders and Lightning all sit at 75 games played.

There was also some medium news: The Hurricanes lost in overtime. The Canes are still lingering in the playoff picture. After picking up a point in the OT loss, they're now four points behind Boston for that wild-card spot, with a game in hand.

So, as it stands now, here are the two playoff situations for the Bruins:

ATLANTIC DIVISION
3. Toronto Maple Leafs, 85 points, 74 games played, 34 ROW
4. Boston Bruins, 84 points, 75 games played, 37 ROW

EASTERN CONFERENCE WILD CARD
1. New York Rangers, 96 points, 76 games played
2. Boston Bruins, 84 points, 75 games played, 37 ROW
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3. Tampa Bay Lightning, 83 points, 75 games played, 33 ROW
4. New York Islanders, 82 points, 75 games played, 33 ROW
5. Carolina Hurricanes, 80 points, 74 games played, 31 ROW

So that's that. It's important to note that the Bruins hold a ROW advantage over all the other wild-card contenders and even Toronto. That's a major benefit for Boston.

Here's what's on the docket tonight.

Nashville at Boston, 7 p.m. ET

Well, this one is quite obvious, and it ought to be a good one, with Tuukka Rask squaring off against fellow Finn Pekka Rinne. The Predators are in the thick of a playoff race of their own. Monday's win over the Islanders moved the Predators into the third spot in the Central Division, but it's hardly a comfortable position. St. Louis is just one game back, and is also hanging on to the second wild-card spot.

However, the situation is slightly less dire out West, because there's no competition for that final wild-card spot. The Los Angeles Kings are the closest non-playoff team to the field, and they're a full 11 points behind the Blues. There's some seeding to be gained, yes, but on the desperation scale, the Predators aren't quite in the fight that the Bruins are at this moment in time.

Detroit at Carolina, 7 p.m. ET

The interesting second leg of a home-and-still-home has the Red Wings taking on the Hurricanes for the second straight night in Raleigh (due to a game earlier in the year being rescheduled due to an unplayable ice surface). Monday night's game ended in dramatic, and then concerning fashion, as Carolina netminder Eddie Lack needed to be stretchered off the ice after Andreas Athanasiou collided with him while scoring the overtime game-winner.

That scary scene will likely prevent this one from being too chippy. But the Hurricanes can really get themselves in the thick of the wild-card race with two points in this one.

Florida at Toronto, 7:30 p.m. ET

Don't sleep on the race for the third spot in the Atlantic. Most of the attention these days focuses on the wild card, but if the Bruins win and the Maple Leafs lose on Tuesday, then the Bruins will be back in the Atlantic Division playoff picture.

That might not happen, though, because the Panthers are sort of in freefall mode. They're 4-8-1 in the month of March. However they did win two in a row -- including a 7-0 victory over Chicago on Saturday -- late last week, so they are at least a viable option to win the game.

The Leafs do still have a game in hand over Boston. They're 3-1-0 against Florida this season.

BONUS: BIG-TIME PREDICTION

As I mentioned, there's a lot of focus on the wild-card race. That's a natural byproduct of the Bruins fizzling out in a whimper for the past two seasons in March and April. But I'm here to provide a whale of a prediction for you: The Bruins will make the playoffs as the third seed in the Atlantic Division.

Yeah, yeah, a lot has to happen, including the Bruins actually playing well. And I'm going to curb it with some qualifiers later on. But Saturday night's back-to-basics effort was encouraging. The defense showed extreme focus in limiting New York to just 19 shots on net. The Bruins blocked 13 would-be shots and made life easier for their goalie.

The Bruins also got some depth scoring with a pair of goals from Riley Nash, the first of which came just 36 seconds after the Bruins fell behind on the road in a game with major playoff implications. It was a positive step.

And if you compare the schedules of the Bruins and Maple Leafs, it looks like this:

Neither schedule is particularly grueling, and it's genuinely difficult to predict how the best teams in the conference (Washington, Pittsburgh, Columbus) will approach the end to the regular season. Perhaps they'll be resting key players, particularly in games 81 and 82.

The combined record of remaining Bruins opponents is 278-181-65.

The combined record of remaining Maple Leafs opponents is 315-203-81.

So really, it'll come down to which team plays sound hockey against some mediocre teams and a couple of very good teams that may be resting players in preparation for the postseason. It's going to require focus and effort, but the Bruins have every bit the chance of executing over the final two weeks as do the younger and less-experienced Maple Leafs.

There is, at the very least, reason to believe that Atlantic Division playoff berth can be won by the Bruins.

You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.

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