Picture of Bruins' first-round playoff opponent starting to take shape

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins set a new single-season record for points on Tuesday night, cementing their place in history as the greatest regular-season team of all time.

In Boston, though, everyone knows that the postseason means a whole lot more.

With that in mind, the picture of which team the Bruins will be facing in the first round is starting to take shape.

As the top seed in the conference, the Bruins will face the lower-seeded wild-card team, a spot that is currently occupied by the Islanders.

One team the Bruins won't be playing in the postseason is the Buffalo Sabres, who lost 6-2 to the Devils on Tuesday night and were eliminated from postseason contention.

Another team the Bruins likely won't be playing is the Pittsburgh Penguins, who surprisingly lost 5-2 to the Blackhawks on Tuesday night. That loss doesn't eliminate the Penguins, but it puts them on the outside of the playoff picture without much time at all to make it up.

One team that has clinched a playoff spot is the Florida Panthers. They're guaranteed one of the two wild-card spots, though they're currently situated in the top spot. That position would currently have them facing the Hurricanes in the first round instead of the top-seeded Bruins.

That leaves the New York Islanders. They're currently in the second wild-card position in the East, one point ahead of Pittsburgh. The Islanders can clinch a postseason berth with a win or an overtime loss at home against Montreal on Wednesday night. That is a likely scenario, to be sure, but Tuesday's Penguins loss was a reminder that nothing is a guarantee.

Still, the most likely picture in the wild card involves the Panthers and Islanders earning spots. The Islanders could leapfrog Florida with a win of their own and a loss by Florida against Carolina on Thursday night. It's hard to determine exactly how Thursday's Panthers-Hurricanes game will play out, particularly if that's a first-round playoff series.

However, the Hurricanes could still lose the top spot in the Metropolitan Division if they lose and the Devils win their final game of the season (at Washington). So, because the Panthers have a wild card clinched, and because the Hurricanes will be working to lock down the best possible playoff position, Carolina figures to be favored in that scenario.

So if the Panthers lose their season finale, and if the Islanders win their season finale, then the Islanders will get the top wild-card spot and the Panthers will get the second wild-card spot. But if the Islanders lose their final game in regulation, and if the Penguins win their final game, then it'll be the Panthers in the top spot and the Penguins in the second.

To simplify all of that from a Bruins perspective, it can be put like this:

Bruins' most likely first-round opponent: Panthers 
Bruins' next most likely first-round opponent: Islanders
Bruins' long shot first-round opponent: Penguins

That involves some level of subjectivity in an unpredictable sport, but it's a best estimation at this point in time. The picture figures to clarify even further after Wednesday night's Canadiens-Islanders game.

For what it's worth, here's the Bruins' record vs. those opponents this season:

Bruins vs. Panthers: 2-1-1
Bruins vs. Islanders: 3-0-0 (one victory via shootout)
Bruins vs. Penguins: 3-0-0

Whichever opponent the Bruins get, TD Garden will be ready to host Game 1 early next week, when the real season begins.