Bruins 4, Devils 0

 

After a disturbing 0-5 losing streak near the end of the season, the Bruins snapped out of it and put together a back-to-back pair of wins. Last night, in the final game of the regular season, they beat the New Jersey Devils, 4-0. All the scoring occurred in the first period when Kastelic scored twice, Geekie scored his 39th goal of the season, and Arvidsson scored just before the period ended. Swayman made 21 saves for the shutout.

So what now? The Bruins (45-27-10) end the season in fifth place in the Atlantic Division and the No. 7 seed and top wild-card team in the East. They'll play a seven-game first-round series with the No. 2-seeded Buffalo Sabres (50-23-8), schedule yet to be announced.

The Bruins won their season series against Buffalo, going 3-1-0. The three wins included two overtime games, both with final scores of 4-3, and a 3-1 win in regulation. The Sabres' sole win was a 4-1 victory back in December. 

In Round 2, the winner of the opening round will face the winner of Montreal-Tampa Bay. The Bruins had better hope that the Canadiens persevere against the Lightning, because they were 2-2-0 against Montreal this season, but 0-4-0 against Tampa Bay, their new kryptonite.