COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Penguins hardly lack incentive to finish the regular season with a flourish. Every team wants to take momentum into the playoffs, and winning the division guarantees home-ice advantage for two rounds, assuming it wins the first one.
This year, there should be additional enticement for finishing first — the chance to play the Bruins in the opening round. Such a statement would have been ludicrous to make when the condensed season opened in January. It would have been more preposterous when Boston started the campaign 10-1-2.
But injuries, lack of secondary scoring and an inability to gain traction have made the Bruins look ordinary for two months. They are 13-11-4 since Feb. 14, and acquiring slump-ridden Taylor Hall at the trade deadline doesn’t automatically make them a more dangerous team.
Boston has been without key players for extended stretches such as goalie Tuukka Rask and defenseman Brandon Carlo. They will get no sympathy from the Penguins, who have been ravaged by injuries yet are three points behind the division-leading Capitals with a game in hand.
There are no easy opponents in the tournament, and the Bruins’ line featuring Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak remains among the NHL’s best. The Penguins also had gone seven years without a win in Boston until a 4-1 triumph on April 1.
Nevertheless, the Bruins — a club that has won two consecutive games just three times in two months — are struggling to score goals beyond the top line. They make for a more inviting target than the Capitals and Islanders, who have eliminated the Penguins from the playoffs in two of the last three years. Drawing the Bruins also means not having to go through the Capitals and the Islanders to reach the conference finals. Both teams are built for the postseason.
If the Bruins didn’t have five games remaining with the Sabres and two games in hand on the Rangers, I’m not convinced they hold on to fourth place in the East Division.
Obviously, much can change between now and the end of the regular season. Boston got a much-needed 4-1 win Thursday night over the Isles. Maybe Hall rediscovers his game after getting out of Buffalo. (He scored his first as a Bruin on Thursday.) Maybe the 33-year-old Rask, who’s played just twice since March 7, regains his form. He was back between the pipes the Islanders
But if the Penguins win the division, they should feel good about their chances of advancing beyond the opening round for the first time since 2018.
YOUR TURN: Do the Bruins represent the Penguins’ easiest path to the second round?