Bruins lose top seed despite best regular-season record – ESPN

Which group the Bruins will meet in the playoff quarterfinals is a secret. For the first time since 2012, the NHL is reseeding its playoff rounds. The seeding is essential in determining opponents, the games are going to be played inside empty buildings. As an outcome, “house ice advantage” isnt as crucial as it would be in common postseasons, Cassidy said.
“You got ta win 16 games.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Boston Bruins had the NHLs finest record (44-14-12) when the routine season was cut brief in March. Yet when the 16-team Stanley Cup playoff tournament starts next week, the Bruins will not be the front runner in the Eastern Conference.
As part of the NHLs rebooted season, a round-robin competition was developed to provide the leading 4 teams in each conference significant video games before they face the winners from the eight-team qualification-round series. Seeding for the following rounds was to be determined by how teams fared in the round robin, with regular-season points portions functioning as the tiebreakers.
Boston opened the Easts round-robin tournament with losses to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday, making it mathematically difficult for the Bruins to make the second or very first seed in the East.
The Bruins owned the routine season. Two losses in this postseason format rendered that achievement useless.
Im not going to lie to you,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. We knew the guidelines coming into it, that we would lose a bit of the advantage we got.”
The Bruins were more competitive in their 3-2 loss to Tampa than they remained in a 4-1 loss to the Flyers in their postseason opener. They end up with a video game versus the Washington Capitals on Aug. 9.
” We are where we are now,” Cassidy said. “Were simply attempting to win a hockey game right now, get our game together so we can be our finest, no matter who we meet.”
Which group the Bruins will meet in the playoff quarterfinals is a mystery. For the very first time given that 2012, the NHL is reseeding its playoff rounds. Although the seeding is necessary in figuring out opponents, the video games are going to be played inside empty structures. As a result, “house ice advantage” isnt as essential as it would be in typical postseasons, Cassidy stated.
” This is one year where I believe seeding is less relevant than others,” he said. After finishing with a. 714 points portion– the best for the franchise since 1973-74– watching the top seed in the East slip away in just two video games was an annoyance.
” Would I rather be No. 1? Keep it? Definitely. However thats not going to occur,” Cassidy stated. “You got ta win 16 video games. We understood that entering. Thatll still be our objective.”