Boston Bruins
The Bruins will entering the postseason as a wild-card team in the Eastern Conference.
Morgan Geekie and the Bruins are heading back to the playoffs. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
After a one-year hiatus, the Boston Bruins are heading back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Boston stamped its ticket to the postseason on Saturday thanks to some help from a few other Eastern Conference clubs.
A win in any capacity for Boston on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning would have outright secured the Bruins’ spot in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
But even after Boston fell to Tampa, 2-1, at TD Garden, the Bruins still had an opportunity to lock up a spot in the playoffs if a few other breaks went their way in the Eastern Conference.
They received some help thanks to both the Senators and the Devils, who defeated the Islanders and the Red Wings, respectively, on Saturday to push Boston into the postseason picture for good.
The Bruins might be mired in a five-game losing streak (0-3-2), but Boston is still sitting at 96 points in the standings with just two games left to play.
With both the Red Wings (91 points) and Islanders (91 points) losing on Saturday, both teams can’t catch the Bruins and Senators (96 points) in the wild-card standings with only so many games to go on the regular-season slate.
Despite the frustrating optics of Boston backing into a playoff spot, the 2025-26 season has still been a resounding success for Marco Sturm in his first year at the helm as Bruins head coach.
A year removed from bottoming out with just 76 points and a 33-39-10 record, the Bruins will have surged back with a reworked roster and hard-nosed, physical identity that could have them poised to be tough out against whoever they draw in the first round.
While stars like David Pastrnak, Jeremy Swayman, and Charlie McAvoy have led the way for Boston, it’s a testament to Boston’s depth that the Bruins’ depth chart features eight different skaters who have scored at least 15 goals this season.
This marks the 16th time in the last 20 years that the Bruins have secured a playoff spot, with only the Penguins (17) and Capitals (16) matching or exceeding that total over a two-decade span.
It still remains to be seen who the Bruins will draw in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Ottawa and Boston might be tied in points, but the Senators are now sitting in the first wild-card spot as a result of having more regulation wins than the Bruins. As such, Boston is currently slated to draw the top seed in the Eastern Conference in the Carolina Hurricanes.
According to HockeyStats.com, the Bruins have a 68 percent chance to face Carolina with two games to go, with the Buffalo Sabres second with 23 percent odds.
Even if the Bruins were to win their next two games against Columbus (Sunday) and New Jersey (Tuesday), the Senators would still hold onto their WC1 spot if they also win out — with Ottawa set to play the Devils on Sunday and the Maple Leafs on Wednesday.
Fair to say, there’s a lot that can change over the next few days as the Bruins brace for playoff hockey.
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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