Morning Skate: Sunshine

Jan 25, 2023 - 11:45 AM

It is Wednesday, my dudes.

The B’s won 4-2 in Montreal last night, becoming the fastest-ever NHL team to reach 80 points in the process. Nice.

Like so many Massachusetts snowbirds before them, the Bruins are now heading to Florida for the winter — or at least for several days.

The Bruins will play in Tampa tomorrow, then against the Panthers in Sunrise on Saturday before leaving the Sunshine State and heading to Raleigh Sunday.

Programming note: the Panthers and Hurricanes games are at weird times (6 PM and 5 PM Eastern), maybe due to the NFL playoffs? I’m not sure.

In any case, it’s supposed to be 81 degrees (F) in Tampa today, so maybe the B’s can enjoy some summer vibes. They’ve probably earned a bit of a break, right?

It’s also interesting to consider where these two teams stand right now in comparison to where pre-season punditry would have put them.

If you’d told the average fan in September that these two teams would be separated by nearly 20 points in the standings by the time this match-up rolled around, most would have assumed it was the Bruins looking up.

It’s been that kind of season, I guess — not that anyone around here is complaining.

Today’s discussion topic

We can talk about Bruins-related things or continue the time-honored tradition of dumping on the Canucks, who continue to make headlines for all of the wrong reasons.

(Jim Rutherford blaming the way the team handled Bruce Boudreau on being too “honest” with the media is an all-time spin zone moment.)

I only mention the Canucks because the Rick Tocchet Era began last night, and surely it will go really well for all parties involved (though he might have won his first game, it wasn’t over when I put this up).