Don’t double-check your calendar: it is still early March, and yes, the first team has guaranteed a place in the NHL playoffs! On Saturday 11 March, the Boston Bruins clinched their place by narrowly beating the Detroit Red Wings 3-2. The Bruins are heading to the Stanley Cup playoffs for their seventh straight season having booked their place within just 64 games; a feat between only by 2 teams in the past (Dallas Stars in 63 in 2022-23 and Detroit Red Wings in 59 in 1995-96).
The early confirmation comes from incredible regular season form where they have also broken a record of becoming the fastest team in NHL history to reach 50 wins in a season.
How will the Bruins fare in the playoffs? In the past, teams that have achieved great heights in the regular season have not necessarily gone on to success in the postseason, and it definitely doesn’t guarantee Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron will get his gloves on the iconic Stanley Cup.
It will, of course, be dependent on who they meet in the coming rounds, and it may be a while before the full playoff roster is filled. In Round 1, the qualified teams are split into 2 brackets by division, each consisting of the top 3 divisional qualifiers and 1 of the wildcards. The lower-seeded wildcard plays against the division winner with the best record (which may well be the Bruins this season) while the other wildcard plays against the other division winner. The other 2 series match the second-place and third-place teams from the divisions. The winners of Round 1 series advance to Round 2.
In all rounds of the playoffs, the higher-ranked team is awarded home-ice advantage, with 4 of the 7 games – if 7 are required – played at this team's home venue, so the Bruins will have the home-ice advantage. There are already secondary seller tickets available for these games at TD Garden which you can find here!