Ryan: Playoff spot secure, Bruins still have an awful lot to play for over final week

The combined record of the last two clubs that dealt the Bruins a loss on home ice have a combined record of 65-66-25. Hockey, right?

Both results might be tough pills for this Bruins team to swallow following these respective defeats at the hands of the Rangers and Panthers, albeit any negative sentiments were likely lessened with context — given the fact that over two months passed between both losses for Boston.

At this point, Saturday’s 4-1 loss to Panthers at TD Garden — snapping a 12-0-0 run at the friendly confines on Causeway Street — should seem like an inconsequential result for the Bruins, who already locked up a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last weekend.

With just four games left over the final week of the regular season, now would be a time for most clubs that have already clinched a playoff berth to take their foot off the gas — whether it be curtailing the minutes of their top players or sitting them outright ahead of a grueling run through the playoffs.

But in a league with as much parity as the NHL, such a luxury will likely not be afforded to the Bruins, even with the 26-8-5 record that they’ve reeled off since the start of the new year.

Despite reserving their seat in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket, a cutthroat Atlantic Division hasn’t given the B’s much breathing room — with second place (and crucial home ice in the opening round of the postseason) still not locked up with four games to go.

Even with a 3-1 record against their all-but-guaranteed first-round foe in the Maple Leafs, the Bruins are not dispelling any of the advantages that home ice can bring to a team in the postseason — especially during a season in which Boston has posted a record of 29-8-3 record at TD Garden.

“I think they are,” Bruce Cassidy said Friday of his team focusing on locking up second place. “I hear them talking about it. We try to stay in the moment, one day at a time. But obviously we understand what’s at stake. We don’t drill on it every day. Guys know what our goals are. Obviously, the last one is to be the last man standing, Stanley Cup champs.

“There’s a number before that, and that’s playing to our standards first. Then you look at being a playoff team and you look at the first-place team, well, that’s out, so now it’s second place. So now we’re trying to get to the next level we can achieve and I think it is brought up periodically. Certainly not in December or November, but at this time of the year now, that’s what’s left for us.”

Had Boston managed to best the Panthers on Saturday, Boston would have cut its magic number to lock down second place from five to three — opening a chance for Boston to clinch its playoff positioning outright if Toronto manages to lose to the Senators Saturday night.

But, for now, Boston’s defeat at the hands of a Florida club outside of the playoff picture has given the Leafs a chance to crawl within four points of Boston with four games remaining on the docket.

“I mean, it’s always frustrating to lose, obviously,” Tuukka Rask said. “I mean, we’ll just go game by game and whatever happens, happens. I think we just, all year we try to worry about where our game is and how we want to play, you know. I mean, I think we played pretty tight defensively against today and just couldn’t – the puck wasn’t bouncing our way on the other end and then, it’s a 4-1 loss. But, hopefully, we’ll make this a good road trip and have some clarity of if we got the home ice or not and then, you know, finish the season and start the playoffs.”

Like hockey in general, home ice can be a fickle thing on a season-to-season basis when it comes to benefiting a certain club — with the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs featuring home clubs posting a record of 39-47. Last season, home teams in the postseason only posted a .470 win percentage in their own barn during the first three rounds of the playoffs.

Prior to winning a pair of games at Capital One Arena during the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals, the Capitals had only managed to post a record of 4-5 on home ice during the playoffs — even after generating a record of 28-11-2 in the building during the regular season.

Still, Boston would feel much better about itself if it had a potential Game 7 against Toronto at TD Garden, especially with Cassidy and his staff getting the luxury of matching up the proper personnel to account for both the Matthews and Tavares lines.

Add in the fact that the Bruins are still searching for a spot in the lineup to slot in Marcus Johansson — and the Bruins really aren’t going to have much time to catch a breather before going into a playoff format that will force them to battle both the Maple Leafs and Lightning in the opening two rounds. Fun stuff.

No one ever said the gig was going to be easy, but Cassidy is going to have a busy itinerary crammed into this week.

After a sluggish showing on a top line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand (minus-1 through 6:22 5v5 TOI together) and an even worse performance upon getting demoted down to a second line with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk (33.33 CF% over 4:13 TOI together), Johansson is still a man without a line, while Tuukka Rask will have to right the ship after posting an .865 save percentage over his last six appearances.

It’s a tough shake that the team with the second-most points in the entire league has a number of tweaks to make with the postseason less than two weeks away, but at this point — one thing is taking precedence over all else for Cassidy and his staff.  

“I have to find a place for (Johansson), but by the same token we’re here to win games and until we get locked in,” Cassidy said. “I think I’ve coached that way since I got here. In game, we’re making adjustments to win that particular game. We still want to build for the future, don’t get me wrong, but we have four more games for that. … What’s in front of us is second place. I’d like to get there, so we want to keep that in mind but also getting our chemistry down.”