SUNRISE, Fla. — The Boston Bruins are anything but comfortable in the Eastern Conference. The Columbus Blue Jackets, winners of seven straight, are closer in the rearview mirror than they appear. Columbus, in fact, has a better chance of making the playoffs.
But with 32 games left in the regular season, the Bruins are among the East’s top eight. They will take that all day, considering the wreckage that was the 2024-25 season.
“Definitely happy with where we are,” David Pastrnak said. “We are in the playoffs right now. Before the season, if you say that heading into the break we’re going to be in a playoff position, we will all take it. Lot of space to improve as a team and the way we play. But at the same time, we are in a good spot and we put ourselves in a good spot heading into the last 20 or so games.”
Pastrnak is one of nine Bruins who will not have a breather. In fact, the Czech Republic called Pastrnak to carry the flag at the opening ceremony. They are calories the No. 1 right wing is delighted to burn.
“Honestly speechless,” Pastrnak said. “Very, very honored. I’m going over there to represent my country. I’m going to give it my all. Really happy and honored to be able to hold our flag and represent us in the ceremony.”
Pastrnak will play with something to prove. He was not pleased that the Czechs were not invited to participate in the 4 Nations Face-Off. Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha, who helped Czechia win the 2024 World Championship, will not make it easy on the Americans (Charlie McAvoy, Jeremy Swayman), Finns (Henri Jokiharju, Joonas Korpisalo) and Swedes (Elias Lindholm, Hampus Lindholm), and vice versa.
The odds are good that at least one of the Bruins will return Stateside with heavy metal. The chances are just as high, given the intensity with which every country will play, that someone will leave Italy in discomfort. How the Bruins will be feeling when they reconvene on Feb. 26 at TD Garden — against the Blue Jackets, of all teams — remains to be seen.
But for all the uncertainty of the future, the Bruins are satisfied with the past.
“You have the Stanley Cup champions here. You’ve got Tampa being the hottest team in the league. And we survived,” coach Marco Sturm said after Wednesday’s 5-4 shootout loss. “So I give my guys, until this point, a lot of credit. Nobody thought we would be in the position we’re in right now. I’m proud of them. For all of us, I think it’s good to have a little break and come back ready to go for a really big month.”
The Bruins left two points in Florida by not settling business in overtime in both games. The shootout is a coin flip that does not necessarily lend itself to ace scorers. Case in point: Neither Pastrnak (22 goals) nor Morgan Geekie (32), the team’s top finishers, has a shootout goal this season. The Bruins are 2-3 in the shootout.
“They’re big points. I’m not going to lie,” Sturm said of the two that went missing. “It’s been a grind. You can see now those points are big. Unfortunately, twice we came short in the shootout. That’s where we have to get better, too. At the end of the day, you might need them. We just have to dial in on that.”
The Bruins are average in the shootout. They are excellent on the power play. They are at a fourth-ranked 26.3 percent.
Swayman, meanwhile, has saved 16.2 goals above expectation, according to MoneyPuck. It places him fourth behind Ilya Sorokin, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Logan Thompson. Korpisalo is at minus-1.5. But the backup has posted a .918 save percentage in his six starts since Jan. 8. Swayman’s save percentage was .909 during this segment.
“He just needed that one game,” Sturm said of Korpisalo’s 28-save win against the Calgary Flames on Jan. 8. “Then he just took off. I’m really happy. Because if you look at our team, we need two really good goaltenders. We really do.”
Sturm’s point is valid. At five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick, the Bruins have an expected goals-for share of 46.45 percent. Only four other teams are worse. There is room for improvement in all three zones.
But it is no discredit to the Bruins that they are goalie-ing and power play-ing their way to the playoffs. That they are even in the race shows how many steps they’ve taken.
