Boston Bruins to Face Great Measuring Pole from Atlantic Division

Freeze the NHL standings between now and April 7 and half of the Eastern Conference playoff bracket would be comprised of Atlantic Division tenants.

Three of those burgeoning and/or certified forces are right on deck for the Boston Bruins over the next four days, with Thursday night’s visit to New Jersey, Saturday’s home bout with the Rangers and Sunday’s venture to Philadelphia.

Naturally, the other part of the four-head Atlantic monster hails from Pittsburgh. The Bruins will not cross paths with the Penguins again until Feb. 4, but the forthcoming stretch is already enough of a postseason simulation.

This might as well be the defending champions’ PSAT for a tentative return trip to the conference semifinals or finals. No time like the present to get Brad Marchand and Rich Peverley back from their respective five- and two-game suspensions and place all regulars back into their standard alignment.

Entering Wednesday night’s NHL action, only five Eastern Conference teams had a cumulative scoring differential on the even or plus side. Those would be Boston and the four Atlantic Division teams in question.

(As a side note, the Washington Capitals, who happen to be hosting the Bruins this coming Tuesday, joined that exclusive group after Wednesday’s 3-0 triumph over Montreal.)

Thursday’s adversary from New Jersey is tied with their opponents, 126-126, through 45 games with a 24-17-4 record. Their superficial appearance might still need some sprucing up compared to some of their rivals, but they are clicking at a favorable point in the season.

The Devils are 5-1-0 dating back to a 6-1 loss to the Bruins at the same site two weeks ago. They have gone 14-5-1 since Dec. 6, when they were on the heels of a season-worst four-game losing streak that dropped them to 10-12-3.

It is worth noting that New Jersey has subsisted on shootouts more heavily than any other NHL club. Still, the Devils are worth monitoring both now and later simply for their regular encounters with the Flyers, Penguins and Rangers, who they are a cumulative 3-3-0 against so far.

Recall that last year’s Bruins brooked frequent fits at the hands of their divisional rivals and fellow playoff-goers from Buffalo and Montreal. But after stamping the Northeast crown despite a 4-5-3 regular-season series with those two teams, they proved themselves more battle-tested in the Stanley Cup finals than Vancouver, whose Northwest Division featured no other postseason qualifiers.

Each of their next three games will have the Bruins vying to outgun a formidable opposing strike force, with New Jersey’s stealthily slithering up the league leaderboard. Amidst an active 12-4-1 run, the Devils have averaged 3.1 goals per night, upgrading from the 2.3 goal-per-game median they had retained in their first 28 games.

New Jersey has not been shut out since their season opener against Philadelphia. And the only two teams in the last month to confine them to a single goal have been Tim Thomas’ Bruins and Henrik Lundqvist’s Rangers.

On that note, after attending to their task at the Prudential Center, the Bruins will host a titanic tangle at TD Garden Saturday afternoon when they finally commence their season series with New York.

Odds are Boston’s goaltending rotation will have Tuukka Rask combating the Devils, after which Thomas will engage Lundqvist in a duel of accomplished goaltenders with two sets of intensely physical squads battling between their nets.

Assuming that is, in fact, the itinerary, Thomas will have a chance to replenish the stonewall persona that has gone missing for the better part of the last three weeks. But it will be one thing to limit the Rangers’ output on the scoreboard and quite another to best Lundqvist in a one-goal staring contest.

Slightly less than 24 hours will have passed after the final siren at the Garden when the Bruins return to Philadelphia, where they battered the Flyers, 6-0, much the same way they annihilated the Devils in their last excursion to Newark. By the time they arrive there, they will be anywhere between wrestling with a continued shortage of collective consistency and riding renewed momentum on the heels of two satisfying, rewarding efforts.

As it happens, the Flyers will be working on equal rest. They are slated to host the Islanders on Thursday and tangle with none other than New Jersey Saturday afternoon at the Prudential Center.

Philadelphia also shares Boston’s desire to rediscover a steady stream of victories. The Flyers have gone 7-6-1 since the Bruins cut off their seven-game winning streak in December.

So, first it’s a bout with a burgeoning heavyweight looking to avenge two losses in the first half of the season series. Then it’s the only team on this coast that can presently match the Bruins’ physicality, goaltending and stature in the standings. And it wraps up with a comparably deep offense and a certified contender that will nonetheless be dangerously desperate.

Can the Bruins handle that well enough to claim at least two out of three contests?

The answer will not be a permanent prognostication for their postseason run, but it couldn’t hurt them to set a tone while they can. And this condensed, competitive stretch may be their most enticing chance to assert their lofty spot on the Eastern Conference landscape.