Bruins Playoff Future Will be Decided on the Road — The Fourth Period

The road has not been kind to the Black and Gold. In 33 games as the visiting team, the Bruins have a 12-14-7 record. Only the Winnipeg Jets (11) and the Calgary Flames (10) have fewer wins away from their home arenas. To be fair, the Toronto Maple Leafs, St. Louis Blues, and Chicago Blackhawks have 12 road wins; however, none of those teams are contending for postseason berths. Should the Bruins miss the playoffs for the second consecutive year, it will be said that the chief reason was the lack of wins and points away from Boston, but there is time to right that ship, and it may have begun last Saturday.

The Bruins were on a three-game roadtrip from March 14 to March 17. The journey took Head Coach Marco Sturm’s squad to Washington, New Jersey, and Montreal.

Before heading out on the road, Sturm said that if the Bruins went .500 (three of six possible points) or better, it would be a successful excursion.

The games resulted in a shootout win over the Capitals in Washington and overtime losses to the Devils in New Jersey and the Canadiens in Montreal. The Bruins gained four points.

“We wanted to be .500 and above, and we did that,” Sturm said after the final game of the trip, a 3-2 overtime loss in Montreal.

Looking forward, six of Boston’s remaining 14 games will be played in Boston. Eight will be away from TD Garden. Seven of the 14 contests will be against teams that are currently in playoff positions.

Diving deeper into the schedule, one can see that the season may come down to three games.

The first against the Red Wings in Detroit on Saturday (March 21).

In the other two tilts, the Bruins will face the Blue Jackets. Boston will travel to Columbus on March 29. The Blue Jackets will be in Beantown on April 12.

With the Bruins being one of two clubs to lead the League with 25 wins at home (25-9-1) – the other being the Carolina Hurricanes (25-9-2) – it should not be a stretch to think that Sturm’s club will continue to be dominant in Boston.

The results of the eight road games will most likely decide whether Boston plays Game 83 as a wild-card team or whether those same results see the Bruins rise into the top three teams in the division. If that happens, we just might be talking about the Bruins opening the playoffs on home ice in the opening round of the postseason. No, home ice is not really that far out of reach for this team.

“I think every point is important,” said Pavel Zacha after scoring two goals in the loss to Montreal. “Everyone is saying it’s like playoff hockey for us. We just have to keep as many points as we can, even if we lose, it has to be with one point, at least.”