With 16 regular season games left before the NHL playoffs begin, many people are concerned that the Bruins are not adequately resting their players. Going into this stretch of back to back games, people were expecting Chad Johnson to be in net more often. They were also expecting Zdeno Chara to be logging a lot less game time. When asked about resting his players, Claude Julien has said that he is resting his players by not having them practice as much down the stretch.
With the Bruins almost guaranteed a 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, many people think the Bruins should go into autopilot instead of fighting over the 1 seed with the Penguins. After all, the Bruins did sweep them in the playoffs last season. I do not agree with this philosophy for many reasons.
First off, I like Claude's idea of resting his players by not having them practice as much. While players probably do expend more energy during a game, it is more mental than physical. During a game you need to maintain your focus from the first whistle to the last. While this may be draining to some, it's what athletes live for. If you don't believe me, you can ask Allen Iverson what his thoughts on practice are.
The second reason I think the Bruins need to keep the pedal to the metal is that while seeding may not matter on the way to the Stanley Cup, it certainly matters once we get there. As of now, the Bruins have accumulated 93 points in 66 games this season. Right now, that is good enough for the #1 seed and home ice advantage in the Eastern Conference (Pittsburgh- 92 points in 65 games, Toronto- 80 points 68 games).
Looking at the point totals in the Western Conference we see a bit of a logjam for the top spot with St. Louis leading the way with 97 points after 66 games. In total, the Western Conference has 5 teams with 90 points or more. If you think about how good the Western Conference teams are on their home ice, you can't help but want the Bruins to get every point possible from here on out. If this means no rest for the weary, then so be it. I'm sure the team will rest much better after a Stanley Cup Championship than they did after being the runner up.
The second reason I think the Bruins need to keep the pedal to the metal is that while seeding may not matter on the way to the Stanley Cup, it certainly matters once we get there. As of now, the Bruins have accumulated 93 points in 66 games this season. Right now, that is good enough for the #1 seed and home ice advantage in the Eastern Conference (Pittsburgh- 92 points in 65 games, Toronto- 80 points 68 games).
Looking at the point totals in the Western Conference we see a bit of a logjam for the top spot with St. Louis leading the way with 97 points after 66 games. In total, the Western Conference has 5 teams with 90 points or more. If you think about how good the Western Conference teams are on their home ice, you can't help but want the Bruins to get every point possible from here on out. If this means no rest for the weary, then so be it. I'm sure the team will rest much better after a Stanley Cup Championship than they did after being the runner up.
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