Bruins officially eliminated from playoff contention

It didn't take long for the cold, harsh reality of the Bruins' current situation to put a damper on a slump-ending victory over the Hurricanes on Saturday night, as Joe Sacco and the Bruins ended their evening officially eliminated from contention for a spot in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

This will be Boston's first postseason miss since 2016, and just the second of Bruins general manager Don Sweeney tenure. It will also end Boston's previously-active playoff streak at eight seasons, which began the day tied with the Maple Leafs for the longest active streak in the National Hockey League.

Boston's elimination, which became an inevitability more than anything else thanks to their post-deadline struggles, became official following Montreal's win over the Flyers on Saturday night.

With Montreal's win, the absolute lowest point total the second wild card team in the Eastern Conference could finish the season with is indeed the Canadiens' 83, which is an impossible figure for the 71-point Bruins to match with just five games remaining on their schedule.

In addition to this being Boston's first postseason miss since 2016, this is also the earliest that the Bruins have been eliminated from postseason contention since the 2006-07 season, which saw the Bruins eliminated on the final day of March on the way to what finished as a 76-point campaign for the club. (When the Bruins missed the postseason in both 2015 and 2016, their doomsday came on what was the final day of the regular season, with the Bruins entering Game 82 with a chance to get into the postseason with a victory in both of those did-not-qualify seasons.)

Again, the B's failing to qualify for the postseason did not and will not come as a shock to anybody within the Boston locker room. Sacco was openly talking about the Bruins playing 'spoiler' ahead of Thursday's loss to the Canadiens, indicating that he had given up on hope on a last-second 'run' for his club.

But what the Bruins do from here will be worth watching, as the Bruins could officially shift their efforts more towards trying to put themselves in the best possible spot for a top-three pick in this year's draft. Of course, that could simply come naturally to a team that's dropped 10 of 13 games since the trade deadline, but Saturday was an undeniably bad night for the 'tank' considering the B's victory over the Hurricanes was countered with losses from both the Flyers and Sabres.

The Bruins will close out their regular season with head-to-heads against the Sabres, Blackhawks, Penguins, and Devils (twice).