What final day of regular season means for Bruins and their draft odds

The Bruins could not make life easy for themselves on Tuesday night.

A regulation loss in their season finale and the Bruins would've locked themselves into the fourth-best odds of winning the 2025 NHL Draft lottery next month. That's all it took. But while you can engineer a tank with roster maneuvering, you can't tell players not to compete, and that's exactly how things played out for the Bruins in Game 82. The final tank of the 2024-25 season was going exactly according to script, with the Bruins down by multiple goals in the second period of play. But the Bruins stormed back to knot things up at 4-4 before falling in overtime, which was enough to throw a potential wrench in their ideal draft lottery odds. Because that's just the way this season had gone for the Bruins, really.

But even though the B's are done for the season, there's still a possibility for the Bruins to luck their way back into their best possible spot by the end of Thursday's final day of regular-season action.

In fact, it's pretty simple: Boston just needs one point from the Flyers in their season finale against the Sabres.

As it stands right now, the Bruins, Flyers, and Kraken are all tied with 76 points. The good news for the Bruins and Flyers is that Seattle owns the tiebreaker over both clubs, with 28 regulation wins compared to 26 for the Bruins and 21 for Philly. That means that a 76-point finish for all three would make Seattle the 'best' team out of the three, and put them behind Boston and Philadelphia in the draft lottery. This also means that the Bruins do not have to worry about the Kraken at all when it comes to the draft lottery odds, as both teams are at 82 games on the year and unable to impact the other club with additional standings jockeying.

So, back to Philly-Buffalo.

If the Flyers can do the Bruins a solid and earn at least one point against the Sabres, the Bruins will move back into the fourth-best odds of winning the 2025 NHL Draft lottery. Finishing with the fourth-best odds would give the Bruins a 9.5 percent chance of picking first overall and a 9.5 percent of picking second overall, and a 0.3 percent chance of moving up into third overall. Add it up and that's a nearly 20 percent of a top-three pick. The Bruins would also possess a 15.4 percent of holding firm at No. 4, a 44.6 percent chance of dropping back into No. 5, and 20.8 percent chance of falling two spots back and into the No. 6 overall pick. If the Bruins lock them into the fourth-best odds, they could not pick any lower than 6th overall.

BRUINS DRAFT LOTTERY ODDS AT 29TH IN NHL

But if the Flyers suffer a regulation loss to the Sabres on Thursday, the Bruins would be locked into the fifth-best draft lottery odds. That would mean an 8.5 percent chance at No. 1 overall pick, an 8.6 percent chance of No. 2 overall, and 0.3 percent chance at No. 3 overall. The B's would also possess a 24.5 percent chance of holding firm at No. 5 overall, as well as a 44 percent chance of falling back one spot into No. 6 overall, and a 14.2 percent chance of dropping back two spots into the seventh overall pick. With these odds, the Bruins would be unable to move up into the fourth overall pick, but could not drop lower than 7th overall.

BRUINS DRAFT LOTTERY ODDS AT 28TH IN NHL

The Flyers will enter Thursday's season finale having posted a 5-2-1 record under Brad Shaw since he replaced John Tortorella as the team's head coach in late March, but on the heels of a 3-0 shutout loss to the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night. The Flyers have been strong against the Sabres this season, too, with two wins in as many head-to-heads this season, and with 12 goals dropped on the Sabres over that two-game sample.

Time to light those Danny Briere candles and pray to Gritty and Fred Shero.