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Round-robin format now benefits Bruins

June 9, 2020, 10:41 AM ET [0 Comments]
Anthony Travalgia
Boston Bruins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
When the National Hockey league first revealed the foundation for their return to play format and laid out the groundwork for their 24-team playoff tournament, a lot was still left up in the air.

The biggest unknown surrounding the Bruins was the round-robin style tournament for the bye teams, and whether the 16-team traditional tournament would be bracket style, or reseeded.

With 12 games left when the league paused their season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bruins were well on their way to the top seed in the east, leading the Tampa Bay Lightning by eight points and the Washington Capitals by 10 points in the east.

Over the last week, reports have surfaced noting that the league will indeed reseed after each round and as normal, will be best-of-seven series after the play-in round.

While 16 teams battle it out in an opening play-in round, the Bruins, Lightning, Capitals and Flyers will all face each other in a round-robin style tournament to decide seeds 1-4 in the Eastern Conference.

Now that it’s reportedly been decided that teams will reseed each round, the round-robin style tournament the Bruins will skate in becomes much more important, but the tournament now also benefits the Bruins a little more.

Where the Bruins benefit the most from this round-robin style tournament is the tie breaking procedures as the NHL has confirmed that the round-robin tiebreaker will be settled by regular-season point percentage which among the four teams in the east, the Bruins have the highest point percentage.

Unless the Bruins go 0-3, or a team other then the Bruins go 3-0, the Bruins should be in the driver’s seat to the conference’s top seed.

Although other that the final line change, there is no real “home-ice” advantage in being a higher seed, I think being the one seed is very beneficial this season. With the play-in round being a best-of-five, more so then ever in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, anything can happen.

The Bruins finishing first in the round-robin tournament would open the door for a potential Bruins vs. Canadiens matchup in the first round should the Canadiens pull off the upset over the Penguins.
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