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Red Wings stumble into playoffs, Bruins in serious trouble

RedWings

The streak has been preserved.

For the 25th consecutive season, the Detroit Red Wings have advanced to the playoffs. That streak ties the St. Louis Blues and puts Detroit four seasons shy of matching the Boston Bruins’ all-time streak.

Speaking of the Bruins, the Red Wings aren’t making the playoffs thanks to their own efforts on Saturday. Detroit suffered a 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers, but in the end it didn’t matter because Ottawa crushed the Bruins 6-1.

Boston had to start backup Jonas Gustavsson because Tuukka Rask was sick and while that certainly didn’t help matters, it would be unfair to put this blowout solely on Gustavsson’s shoulders.

Regardless, Boston and Detroit have now both finished the season with 93 points in 82 games. However, because the Red Wings control the tiebreaker, they secured the third Atlantic Division seed while Boston is in the second Wild Card spot. The problem for the Bruins now is that the Philadelphia Flyers are just one point shy of them and have two games left, including their ongoing contest against Pittsburgh.

If Philadelphia gets at least two points in its last two games, Boston will miss the playoffs and the Flyers will get that second Wild Card spot. In other words, the Bruins’ fate is now entirely out of their hands.