The Boston Bruins’ remaining regular-season schedule is littered with games I like to call “reaper teams.”

I’m pretty sure I didn’t come up with this, but basically teams like Toronto and Ottawa can feel the death of their playoff hopes coming on and like Blue Oyster Cult sings, they “don’t fear the reaper.” They’re actually looser and ready to play better now that the pressure is off them.

Next up for the Bruins after their five-day layoff Saturday are those Maple Leafs, who have won four of their last five and five of their last seven. As of today, the Leafs’ tragic number, according to NHLPlayoffRace.com, is eight. That means that any total of points squandered by the Leafs (who also play  Friday night at Buffalo before hosting the Bruins) and accumulated by the eight-place team that equals eight will eliminate Toronto from playoff contention.

The Bruins know the “reaper games” can be a drag.

“This time of year is when teams that are a long shot to make the playoffs, they always seem to play well at the end of the year and get things going, there’s less pressure,” said Bruins winger Michael Ryder. “I think we’ve just got to make sure we’re ready for those guys to work hard. We worked on those things this week in practice and trying to get our game back to where it used to be. I think we made strides forward the last game and it’s just a matter of us putting it all together.” … continue reading @ TheBruinsBlog.net

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