No, the Stanley Cup playoffs don't start on Saturday afternoon at the Garden. But if you're looking for a similar atmosphere to the post-season, you could do worse than the nationally televised Bruins-Panthers game on Causeway Street (3:30 p.m., ABC).
The Bruins are currently four points ahead of the Panthers in the race for the Atlantic Division title and home-ice advantage for at least the first two rounds of the playoffs. A win for the Bruins would give them a solid six-point lead with four games remaining in the regular season. A win for the Panthers would narrow the lead to two points, and since Florida has the tie-breaker (regulation wins), the competition would likely go down to the wire.
Florida native Andrew Peeke, who was acquired from Columbus at the trade deadline, will experience the playoffs for the first time in a couple of weeks. However, Saturday's game will be a good warm-up for him.
The defenseman expressed his excitement, saying, "It's great. It raises the stakes. Everyone's pumped up, they know what's at stake and that's the best part of it."
Coach Jim Montgomery continues to focus on his team, but there's no denying the significance of Saturday's game.
Montgomery commented, "First place is up for grabs. Besides that, we just want to continue what we're doing, especially after tough wins in Nashville and Carolina where we allowed just one 5-on-3 goal. We really care about our performance going into the playoffs. We feel that our play is in a good place, and what better way to test it than by playing against Florida (on Saturday) at home."
The Panthers are likely to come in strong for reasons beyond the standings. They have not managed to beat the Bruins in three attempts, despite trying to dominate them physically. Before defeating the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, the Panthers had been on a 2-7-1 skid, including a 4-3 loss to the Bruins in Florida.
From the Bruins' perspective, there is still the lingering disappointment from the Panthers ending their dream season in the first round last year. All three games this season have had a certain intensity and hostility, starting from the first one on October 30. That game ended in a 3-2 overtime win for the Bruins at the Garden, when Charlie McAvoy received a high hit on Oliver Ekman-Larson, resulting in a four-game suspension for McAvoy. Then came the rematch in Florida (a 3-1 win for the Bruins) where Nick Cousins took a run at McAvoy, although he decided against actually fighting him. Finally, there was last week's game in Florida that included a few scuffles and three blown leads by the Panthers in the Bruins' 4-3 victory.
The Panthers are not at full strength. Defenseman Aaron Ekblad and sniper Carter Verhaeghe are both expected to remain out of the lineup. However, strong teams like the Panthers tend to become more dangerous in the short-term when facing internal challenges like these.
"These are the games that you want to be a part of," said Danton Heinen. "We've had some good games lately that have felt like playoff games, and it's going to be another one on Saturday. Those are fun games to be a part of and easy to get motivated for."…
Heinen is the Bruins’ pick for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, chosen by the Boston chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association. He is one of 32 nominees representing each team from across the league. The winner will be announced in June.
The prize is given to a player who best shows the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.
Heinen received the nomination in his usual modest, deflective way.
“I guess they didn’t have many options,” he said with a sly smile. “Yeah, it is what it is. You don’t want to put yourself in a position where you have to come back from something. For me, there’s other guys that go through real stuff, but it is what it is.”
But there was no surety he’d even be in an NHL uniform this year.
After not being re-signed in Pittsburgh, Heinen was brought back to Boston on a tryout agreement for training camp. Despite clearly earning a job, he was not signed until two weeks into the season on October 30 because of salary cap reasons.
Since then, he’s been an important part of the Bruins’ surprising run to the top of the Atlantic Division standings, whether he was skating on the fourth line or in his current role as a top-line winger with David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha. Despite missing the first couple of weeks, Heinen has 16-18-34 totals, two goals shy of his career best.
“I think it’s deserved,” said Montgomery, who coached Heinen at the University of Denver. “He had to fight through a lot. When you go through a whole summer not knowing if you’re going to have a contract or not, if you’re going to play again in the NHL, it’s a lot of uncertainty you have to deal with mentally. The perseverance mentally he had to come in here with, have a real good camp and stay here because of his commitment to wanting to be a Boston Bruin again and then getting the opportunity and flourishing – in any role. He started on the fourth line, I think he went to the third line.. We introduced him to the penalty kill. He didn’t penalty kill when he was here before. He’s done everything we could ask of him.”…
Montgomery had no further update on Justin Brazeau, reiterating that he’s week-to-week with the upper body injury he suffered in Nashville….
Brad Marchand did not practice on Friday, taking a maintenance.
“He got his 400th goal (on Thursday), he came in and said ‘I’m done,’” joked Montgomery.
