Bruins To Begin Series With Blue Jackets On Thursday At TD Garden
BOSTON (CBS) -- We now know that the Bruins' season will continue, and we also know when they'll be playing next.
After beating the Maple Leafs 5-1 in Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs on Tuesday, the Bruins are moving on to face the Columbus Blue Jackets, who shocked the hockey world by sweeping the top-seeded Tampa Bay Lighting in the first round.
Game 1 will be played Thursday at TD Garden at 7 p.m.
Boston took two of their three matchups with the Blue Jackets during the regular season, with all three of those games coming late in the season. They lost 7-4 in Columbus on March 12, unable to dig themselves out of a 5-1 hole in the second period. Tuukka Rask gave up five of those goals before being pulled for Jaroslav Halak.
The Bruins got some revenge four nights later in Boston, beating the Blue Jackets 2-1 on a Brad Marchand overtime goal. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Bruins.
And the B's came out victorious in their final matchup of the regular season on April 2 in Columbus, a game the Blue Jackets had to win to keep their postseason hopes alive. Boston's offense exploded for a 6-2 victory, with Jake DeBrusk leading the way with a pair of goals. Marchand, David Pastrnak, Karson Kuhlman and Marcus Johansson also scored as Boston chased Sergei Bobrovsky in the second period. Rask made 32 saves for Boston in the victory, as the Bruins kept the Blue Jackets from clinching a playoff spot.
But Columbus clinched their wild card spot a few nights later, and looked more like a one-seed than an eight-seed in their first-round dismantling of Tampa Bay. Columbus was down 3-0 after the first period of Game 1 against the Lightning, but went on to outscore Tampa 19-5 the rest of the way, becoming the first team to ever sweep a Presidents' Trophy winner in the first round.
The Bruins, meanwhile, rallied from a 3-2 deficit to force a Game 7 and then win it in decisive fashion, by a 5-1 final. And now, it's on to the second round. With just 48 hours between start times of Game 7 and Game 1, the Bruins won't have much time to soak in the victory.
