Who could Bruins face in first round of NHL playoffs

BOSTON — After clinching the Atlantic Division title on Saturday with their 2-1 win over the Lightning, the Bruins assured themselves of facing a wild-card team in the first round of the playoffs.

Bruins haven’t clinched the best record in the Eastern Conference or NHL yet so which wild card team they’ll face is still TBA. Boston has a 15-point lead over the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes. Boston has 10 games left, Carolina has 11. The Bruins and Canes play each other on Sunday.

Conference Leaders

........................GP—W-L-OT—Pts

y-Boston............72—56-11-5—117

x-Carolina..........71—47-16-8—102

y-clinched division, x-clinched playoffs

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The division winner with the best record faces the No. 2 wild card team in the first round. The other division winner faces the other wild card.

If the current standings were to hold, the Bruins would face the Pittsburgh Penguins in a rematch of the Winter Classic and the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs would look like this:

A1 Boston vs. WC2 Pittsburgh

M1 Carolina vs. WC1 New York Islanders

A2 Toronto vs. A3 Tampa Bay

M2 New Jersey vs. M3 New York Rangers

But while teams have between 8-10 games remaining after Saturday night’s action, there are technically seven teams that are currently on the outside of the playoff picture looking in who still have a mathematical shot of getting in. But for now, it’s unrealistic to expect Detroit, Philadelphia or Montreal, who are all below .500 to go on historic runs, while everyone above them crumbles.

........................GP—W-L-OT—Pts

Would be in

NY Islanders...74—37-28-9—83

Pittsburgh.......73—36-27-10-82

Outside looking in

Florida.............73—36-30-7—79

Buffalo........... .72—35-31-6—76

Washington......74—34-32-8—76

Ottawa..............73—35-33-5—75

• 3-0 vs. the New York Islanders
• 2-0 vs. Pittsburgh. They play again on Saturday.
• 2-1-1 vs. Florida
• 3-0-1 vs. Buffalo
• 1-1 vs. Washington. They play again April 11.
• 2-1-1 vs. Ottawa