If The NHL Knows What's Good For Them, They'll Find A Way To Make Another Panthers vs Bruins Playoff Series Happen
China Wong. Getty Images.When the NHL Trade Deadline rolled around last week, Don Sweeney made a clear and decisive statement about his hockey team. He thinks that the Boston Bruins are absolute dog shit, that the team doesn't even deserve to live, and decided to sell off half the roster before 3pm on Friday afternoon.
Brad Marchand to the Panthers. Brandon Carlo to the Maple Leafs. Charlie Coyle to the Avalanche. Trent Frederic to the Oilers. Justin Brazeau to the Wild. Don Sweeney told his team they are all a bunch of pathetic losers, and wove the white flag on the season.
Turns out the team didn't listen.
Not only did the Bruins come back to score 3 in a row to beat the Panthers, but they also bullied them off of the ice.
The NHL is already going to have plenty of momentum heading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year coming off of the Four Nations, and I'm sure Ovi is going to break the scoring record at some point soon here. People are going to be interested in playoff hockey for sure, but if you really want to keep them hooked? You need to find a way to have this rivalry play out in another 6-7 game series.
Two teams that hate each other. You have the previous captain getting blindsided by Bruins management and sent down to Florida. And now you have a Boston team that is playing some spiteful ass hockey after being completely given up on by their own management.
It's going to be tough to pull off. For starters, the Bruins aren't even in a playoff position right now. Not only would they need to get a wild card spot, but realistically you'd also need for them to find a way to get the top wild card spot since the Caps essentially already have the #1 seed in the East locked up.
It's easy to envision an implosion in Ottawa, since they're not used to this type of pressure. Columbus and Montreal have both been overachieving this year, so they could always drop off. The Rangers are still the epitome of mediocrity. So it's certainly not impossible for the Bruins to have enough spite in them as fuel to go on a run these final 16 games.
We need to see Marchand play against the Bruins in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It just has to happen. And even more so, we need to see what that little rat fuck Sam Bennett does to retaliate from that ass whooping he received from Zadorov. Do the thing, NHL. Pull every string you need in order to make this happen.