Boston Bruins: 5 Biggest Matchups on the March/April Schedule

Over the final five-and-a-half weeks and 21 games of the regular season, the Boston Bruins will entertain 12 contests with Eastern Conference adversaries who, at the very least, still harbor reasonable playoff hopes. These teams range from the regal New York Rangers to the No. 10-seeded Toronto Maple Leafs.

Whether it is the Rangers, any other part of the four-headed monster that is the Atlantic Division or the two fellow Northeast Division tenants from Ontario, Boston has yet to complete its season series with six teams that could meet them in the first round of the postseason or wage a particularly intense series in a later round.

The time is ripe to set more than a few tones. Accordingly, the Bruins must replenish their November/December persona and their fans should highlight the following five matchups while the calendar Zamboni takes another monthly set of laps.

March 1 vs. New Jersey

Barring any radical tectonic shifts in the Eastern Conference landscape, the Devils are one of the prime candidates to face the Bruins in the first round of the playoffs. In fact, if Wednesday morning’s standings froze between now and the final horns on April 7, Boston would be the No. 2 seed hosting seventh-seeded New Jersey.

Having already won their first three meetings by a cumulative score of 14-5, Boston can put a dagger in New Jersey’s head with one more knockout so soon after the deadline, so soon after every team has virtually left its final roster to freeze.

The core from head coach Claude Julien’s first season in 2007-08 should know how a lopsided regular-season series can influence a subsequent meeting in the playoffs, having been on the wrong side of that scenario against Montreal.

March 4 and April 1 at New York Rangers

These games should be less about whittling down the gap between second and first in the conference and more about garnering some certifiable conviction against the Blueshirts.

The Rangers have already taken two out of two meetings at TD Garden, but the Bruins can balance things a little by taking a two-point package out of Manhattan, preferably within regulation.

If they remain in the postseason long enough, a best-of-seven bout with New York is virtually inevitable. Coming away with at least one regular-season win at Madison Square Garden could be a vital psychological X-factor for this group.

March 11 and April 3 vs. Pittsburgh

The Penguins’ visit to the Garden April 3 will be the Bruins’ last of 20 tangles with the most competitive division in their conference.

They are currently 8-3-1 versus the Atlantic, having lost one regulation decision apiece to the Flyers, Pens and Rangers plus one overtime session with New York. They have already won their four-game wishbone with the Devils and are at least assured a split of their season series with both the misfit New York Islanders and the Flyers.

Even with Sidney Crosby still out of commission, the significance of one or two more triumphs over Pittsburgh should not be underestimated.

March 17 vs. Philadelphia

This will be the first Bruins-Flyers tilt since Boston obtained Brian Rolston, Greg Zanon and Mike Mottau. It will be their first meeting since Philadelphia imported Matt Ford, Niklas Grossman and Pavel Kubina.

And it will be the first time they have crossed paths since Tom Sestito belted Nathan Horton back onto the injured reserve.

With all of that in mind, the Bruins should be simultaneously bent on avenging Horton by inflicting a wound on the Flyers’ side of the scoreboard and making an impression as to who has the better squad post-trading deadline.

April 5 at Ottawa

Regardless of whether or not the Bruins spill all of their games in hand and the Senators successfully pole-vault over them, this looks to be another potential first-round card in the playoffs. And the last installment of the Boston-Ottawa season series will fall in each team’s second-to-last regular-season game.

For more on the implications of this game, refer back to the slide on the New Jersey matchup. The Bruins may have missed out on a six-game, season-series sweep Tuesday night, but beating the Senators a fifth time on the cusp of the postseason is all the more crucial because of that.