It’s the debate that always surfaces when a team wraps up a series early and ends up with a long wait before the next round: Rest vs. rust.
Will you benefit from some extra rest while your opponent plays into Game 6 or 7? Or will the break kill your momentum and leave you rusty against an opponent that might have an easier time carrying over its play from one round to the next?
The reality is that teams will gladly take any scenario that involves them moving on to the second round, but this year’s Bruins are perfectly happy to get some extra rest before they go to battle with either the Penguins or Islanders.
Every team had a more compressed schedule than usual this year, but the Bruins had one of the toughest over the final month and a half due to a few COVID postponements earlier in the season, including one for a full week in mid-March. From March 25 until the end of the regular season, the Bruins played 28 games in 48 days and never had more than one day off between games.
It took a mental and physical toll. Getting four days from the end of the regular season to the start of the first round was welcomed, and so is this break from Sunday night’s Game 5 to whenever the second round starts, which could be as early as Saturday if the Islanders close out the Penguins Wednesday night, or potentially Sunday or Monday if that series goes seven.
It gives everyone some needed rest and recovery time, but could be especially beneficial on defense, where the Bruins have injuries to Kevan Miller, Jeremy Lauzon and Jakub Zboril. General manager Don Sweeney said Monday that Miller was “still early in the recovery phase” after suffering what is assumed to be a concussion in Game 4, while there is “hope” Lauzon and Zboril will both be available in the second round. Tuukka Rask and his back won’t complain about a little extra recovery time, either.
Sweeney said he trusts the Bruins’ players and coaches to get the team ramped back up in time for Game 1, and that he believes the break will be “advantageous” overall.
“I think our team does a pretty good job understanding the schedule. When the league decides when we play, we’re going to be ready to play,” Sweeney said. “And we'll do everything we can between now and then, we'll take the necessary couple of days and if they get pushed back, Bruce [Cassidy], we'll talk and have a conversation about maybe giving it another day and being able to ramp it back up.
“It’s such a challenging year from the compression overall of the schedule. I honestly believe the time we have right now will be advantageous to us, to have a little bit of a reset. I think if we can get in and stay healthy, we’ll be ready to go for the next round, because it’s going to be a hell of a challenge.”
On Tuesday, team president Cam Neely echoed those sentiments.
“I think our group has enough experience to understand the time off, how to use it to the best of their abilities as far as getting rest and recovery,” Neely said. “I think it’s very important. Especially if you hope to have a long run, I think these days off are going to be very beneficial moving forward. Having said that, I do know when our guys get back on the ice, they’re going to be ready to work. And that's what has to happen. The coaching staff will be ready to get these guys ramped up as the days progress and as we get into the first game of the second round.”
Sweeney and Neely have that confidence in this group because they’ve seen them do it before. You only have to go back two years to find a similar situation with the Bruins having a bunch of time off between series.
After sweeping the Hurricanes in the 2019 Eastern Conference finals, the Bruins had a rather absurd 11-day wait before the Stanley Cup Final started. While they did fall behind 2-0 in Game 1 against the Blues, they played great and ultimately dominated much of the game, winning 4-2 and outshooting St. Louis 38-20.
After seeing Monday night’s Penguins-Islanders Game 5 go to double overtime, the Bruins will happily sit back and watch them battle, risking injury and fatigue in the process. After two full days off Monday and Tuesday, the Bruins will get back on the ice Wednesday and start to ramp up as the week goes on. And with a coaching staff and veteran core who have been here before, they should be ready to go for Game 1, whenever that ends up being.
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