Three Reasons To Be Optimistic of Bruins Playoff Chances

This season has been full of uncertainty for the Boston Bruins from the very beginning.

It all started in training camp when multiple players missed time for various reasons. Now, well past the halfway point of their schedule, the Bruins have yet to find any traction, leading the front office to a fork in the road at the NHL trade deadline.

As of right now, the Bruins are outside the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference, sitting a point back of the second wildcard spot. With a mediocre record of 27-24-6 and only 25 games left to play, they have just a 14.9% chance of making the postseason, according to Moneypuck.com.

Although the outlook for the Bruins is about as bleak as it can get, there is still reason to believe that playoff hockey will return to Causeway Street this year.

David Pastrnak Producing on Another Level:

Perhaps the one bright spot on a roster that has been full of black holes this year is David Pastrnak.

Like many others on the Bruins, Pastrnak had a slow start to the season. But once the calendar turned to 2025, he switched to a new gear. Pastrnak has tallied 31 points with 15 goals in 18 games since the start of the new year.

Pastrnak ranks eighth in the league in scoring entering the 4 Nations Face-Off break and is in the midst of a 13-game point streak, during which he’s put up 26 points with 11 goals.

However, despite Pastrnak’s best efforts, the Bruins have yet to put forth theirs.

“I would give up the point streak for two points [in the standings] today,” Pastrnak said following the Bruins’ loss to the Vegas Golden Knights this past Saturday.

While the team as a whole has yet to catch fire, other players have begun to heat up thanks to Pastrnak’s hot streak. Skating opposite of Pastrnak on Boston’s top line, Morgan Geekie has become a reliable source of secondary scoring.

Even the power play, which earlier this year functioned with complete incompetency, has become somewhat operational, with Pastrnak becoming more of a facilitator rather than a finisher.

The Bruins certainly need a lot more players to start pulling their weight, but Pastrnak is doing more than enough heavy lifting in the meantime.

Jeremy Swayman Settling In as Starting Goalie:

It took longer than anyone would’ve liked, but Jeremy Swayman has settled in nicely as the tried and true starter between the pipes for the Bruins as he’s started 13 of the last 18 games in goal.

In that span, Swayman has shown the same flashes of brilliance, such as his 36-save shutout of the Minnesota Wild on Feb. 4, that helped him earn his massive eight-year, $66 million contract extension over the summer.

However, there have also been moments where he bared more of a resemblance to Swiss cheese rather than a goalie. Take the seven goals he allowed against the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 28, which was by far his worst performance of the season.

More often than not, Swayman, at the very least, has given the Bruins a chance to win lately. Interim head coach Joe Sacco says the team will continue to lean on him over the remaining course of the season and that it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that Swayman starts three out of every four games.

As he should. It’s what the Bruins are paying him for, after all.

Return of Hampus Lindholm Should Stabilize Defense:

Defense was supposed to be the identity of the Bruins this year, and it has, at times. Other times, they seem to forget who they are, and when they do, it’s hard to watch.

It’s important to note, though, that the Bruins have played the majority of this season without a major piece on the back end.

Hampus Lindholm has missed the last 40 games with a lower-body injury that he suffered in mid-November. Since then, the Bruins have tried to fill his void with a rotating cast of defensemen, whether that be Parker Wotherspoon, Jordan Oesterle, or Michael Callahan.

While neither of those three have performed poorly per se, they haven’t matched Lindholm’s ability as individuals or as a collective.

Lindholm has been back skating for nearly a month now and has made significant steps towards a return that is soon to come following the 4 Nations break. When it does, he will be a valuable addition to the Bruins lineup down the stretch of the season.