3 Things the Bruins Need in Final 3 Games of 2025-26 – The Hockey Writers –

The end of the 2025-26 season is rapidly approaching and the Boston Bruins are still sitting in a playoff position. At the moment, they are fourth in the Atlantic Division with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Buffalo Sabres, and Montreal Canadiens all ahead of them in the standings with their playoff spots already clinched. The Bruins are in the first Wild Card spot with the Ottawa Senators four points back in the second spot and the Columbus Blue Jackets two points behind them. The Detroit Red Wings, New York Islanders, and Washington Capitals are also all still alive in the race for those final two Wild Card spots. 

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The Bruins are easily in the argument for one of the most improved teams this season. In 2024-25, they finished with only 76 points and were last in the Atlantic. With three games to go, they are at 96 points. They’ve made improvements across the board, in all areas of the game. They still have a lot of room to grow, but no matter what happens in the next three games, this season should be considered a success and a good indication that they are moving in the right direction. 

A return to the postseason is certainly well within grasp, and there are three things in particular that the Bruins need in their next three games to get them over the finish line.

Goal Scoring

Outside of their latest matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Bruins offense has dried up in April. In their first three games of the month, the team had three losses where they only managed one goal in each. Against Carolina, they had a bit of spark back with five goals, three of which came from Morgan Geekie following a 17-game streak without a goal. A drought that long is not ideal from the team’s top goal scorer this season.

While they ultimately lost to the Hurricanes, the team was finding the back of the net again, and hopefully that can continue throughout the next three games. It’s not a good sign to see them starting to dry up this late in the season, especially when the Bruins have a history of struggling to generate offense in the postseason. While they do not have a spot in the playoffs yet, if they do make it, the last thing anyone wants to see is the roster struggling to score, putting more pressure on Jeremy Swayman to keep them in games. 

The team needs more out of some of their top guys. Geekie finally scored a hat trick to break his goal scoring slump, and they’ll need him in the final three games. David Pastrnak has also been struggling as of late, and is currently in the middle of a seven-game scoreless streak. 

Pavel Zacha and Viktor Arvidsson have done a lot of the heavy lifting since the season resumed following the Winter Olympics, and now more of the team needs to step up in the final three games when it comes to scoring. They need wins to finalize their playoff spot, and one needs to score goals in order to win a game.

No Bad Penalties

The penalty kill continues to be a struggle for the Bruins. They’re ranked 26th in the league with a 76.6% success rate. Part of the reason their penalty kill is so low this season is that they are giving their opponents a lot of opportunities to play with the man advantage. They have the second most penalty minutes of all teams in the NHL this season, trailing only the Lightning, who will be Boston’s next opponent on April. 11. The last thing the team will want in that matchup is a repeat of their outdoor game in February when Tampa Bay was able to get back into the game and eventually win due to several major power play opportunities. 

The Bruins need to play clean, smart, and disciplined in their final three games. No bad penalties means limited power play opportunities for their opponents means putting their goalies in less dangerous situations. Boston will face the Lightning, Blue Jackets, and New Jersey Devils in their final three games, who are ranked 14th, 20th, and 13th, respectively, in the power play. That gives them some room to breathe, but any team is going to find the back of the net at least once if you’re giving them three, four, five chances on the power play in a game. If they can keep to two or less penalties a game in the final games, that would be great for Boston.  

Figure Out the Lineup

With injuries, the Bruins have made lineup changes throughout the season, but since the Olympics, it seems like head coach Marco Sturm has been making changes every few days. Different guys have stepped up at various points in the season, but for the last few games, it seems they’ve just been cycling through Alex Steeves, Mikey Eyssimont, and Lukas Reichel, trying to find someone that works on the third line with Marat Khusnutdinov and Fraser Minten. The two young players have managed to play well even with the instability on their line, but going into the playoffs, it would be nice to have a more solid, finalized lineup.

With the Bruins not playing again until Saturday, this is the time for them to make a choice on the left wing spot on the third line and commit to it, at least through the final three games of the season. It can be re-evaluated again for the playoffs, but unless there is an injury, the team should try rolling the same lines in the final three games to build up chemistry and momentum into the playoffs. 

The question then becomes, who should get that spot? There is a solid argument to call up James Hagens, who has a goal and four points in six games with the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL) since he made his professional debut last month. It would give him a chance to get his first taste of NHL experience and could provide a spark to the offense. But there is also a good argument to be more cautious and not rush one of their most impressive prospects in recent memory or risk negatively affecting his development. Just google his name and see how torn sports media seems to be on what the team should do.

If they go the call up route, there are other options to try, including Matthew Poitras, who had some flashes of success this season including a goal in three NHL games, Dans Locmelis, who has 15 goals and 23 points in the AHL, and Georgii Merkulov, who is currently leading Providence in points. Any of those guys is worth giving a three game run to see if they can make a solid impression, especially since Sturm does not seem sold on any of the current options for the final lineup spot at the moment. 

Whatever the case is, the Bruins need to make a decision and try to stick to it for the final three games. As mentioned, this team has struggled in their last few postseason appearances to consistently generate enough offense to pull off playoff wins. Getting the momentum and chemistry rolling now could go a long way if they make it back to the postseason.

Three Games to Go

While the Bruins don’t have their playoff spot officially booked, the odds are looking good that they’ll get in. But given their recent stretch of losses, these next three games are an important opportunity to get the ship righted again before the playoffs begin. Momentum is an underrated piece of the puzzle of a Stanley Cup championship run. As Bruins fans have seen themselves the last few seasons, anything can happen when the post season gets underway. 

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The Bruins next play against the Lightning on Saturday, April 11. Make sure to stay tuned with The Hockey Writers throughout the 2026 playoffs for news, updates, and analysis.