4 developments to watch for in the Bruins’ final regular season games

Next weekend, the Boston Bruins will put the finishing touches on their preparations for the first round. But they enter the final weekend of the 2023-24 regular season without a clear indication of who they will prepare for.

The Bruins enter Saturday’s game in Pittsburgh with just one point ahead of the Panthers in the Atlantic Division standings. Boston has a game in hand against Florida and the New York Rangers, who have a three-point lead in the Eastern Conference standings.

Whether they face the Lightning, the Maple Leafs or the second wild card team in the East, the Bruins still have plenty of items to check off heading into the playoffs that go beyond their final standing in the standings. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some developments the Bruins will face as they close out their 82-game slate.

Pat Maroon’s Boston debut.

Barring a last-minute development, the Bruins will have their second addition at the trade deadline on their roster Saturday.

After spending the last month recovering from back surgery, Pat Maroon remains on track to finally make his Bruins debut against the desperate Penguins.

“We took all the right steps. We’ve taken all the necessary steps to get me to where I need to be,” Maroon told reporters about working with Boston’s coaching staff. “I’m glad last week was great. You know, (we’re) putting in extra work, making more time here to get me in a game here.

The Bruins acquired three-time Cup champion Maroon from Minnesota in exchange for Luke Torpokowski and a conditional sixth-round pick in 2026. They plan to use his leadership and blue-collar skills in a top-six role. last for a potential playoff run. But no one knows if three games — or fewer — will be enough for Maroon to prepare for the playoffs.

Maroon skated on Boston’s fourth line with Jesper Boqvist and Jakub Lauko during Friday’s practice. The veteran forward also took reps on the secondary power play unit.

The Bruins power play appears to be getting back on track.

In their nine games following a 2-for-2 outing against the Senators on March 19, the Bruins have scored just twice on their subsequent 27 attempts with the man advantage.

The Bruins had significant difficulty getting into the zone on their power play opportunities, particularly when they lost their first faceoff in the offensive zone. Their setup remained stagnant every time they took possession, settling for many simple deals and very few secondary scoring deals.

Indeed, the Bruins need more than adjustments to get their sputtering power play back to the form of the first half of the season. But working with elite talents like David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy to lead the top unit hasn’t worried Jim Montgomery about the recent skid.

“We have David Pastrnak. We have Charlie McAvoy. We have a guy (Marchand) who has 400 goals with Bruin,” Montgomery said. “I’m not too worried. I know it hasn’t been looking great lately. But we work on things, and when we work on things, sometimes it’s not natural. But we think because we’re working on it now, it will be natural come playoff time.

The last pre-elimination concerns the rotation of goalkeepers.

Moving away from the Swayman-Ullmark rotation was one of Montgomery’s biggest mistakes during last year’s first-round exit.

The boss of the second year bench will quickly have the opportunity to rectify this incident next weekend. The only question here is timing.

Linus Ullmark outplayed Jeremy Swayman as the latter returned from his first All-Star Game appearance. Given the recent turnover, the 2023 Vezina winner will likely start two of the final three regular season games.

Ullmark remains on track to start Game 1 for the third year in a row. But even with his late-season slump, the Bruins should stay the course and insert Swayman into the playoff rotation early.

“If we go into a rotation, it’s going to be Game 1, Game 2, Game 3, Game 4. That’s what we ended up deciding, and then we can go from there,” Montgomery said . “Obviously performance and winning the playoffs dictates a lot of decisions, but that’s what we’re comfortable doing. This is what our goalkeepers are used to preparing for. So we’ll see what ends up happening.

Planning rest for some Boston veterans?

The elimination of Patrice Bergeron in last year’s final in Montreal put the Bruins in a difficult situation after their record-breaking regular season. Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle admirably replaced Bergeron and David Krejci in the first four games against Florida. Yet the two best centers in franchise history struggled to regain their footing upon their return in the second half of the series.

While Zacha and Coyle picked up where they left off, this year’s team isn’t as well-rounded. Given this, the coaching staff may wish to schedule some rest for some of its seasoned veterans over the coming days.

It might be difficult to convince Marchand, Coyle and Pastrnak to sit out, given that they have played every game so far. But the Bruins could consider giving McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm and/or Brandon Carlo a break after the trio of defensemen missed time due to injury earlier in the season.

All of Boston’s veterans will likely be in Saturday’s lineup. But heading into their back-to-back Finals, the Bruins would do well to schedule some rest for a core group they’ll actually lean on in the first playoff run of the post-Bergeron and Krejci era.