I think I speak for 98% of Bruins fans when I say we didn’t quite expect Taylor Hall to be a Bruin, and we also did not expect it to work out as well as it has, as quickly as it has. This is the second line that David Krejci and the rest of the franchise has been waiting for. Smith, Krejci, and Hall seem to be the perfection line 2.0, and tack on the steal of the trade deadline Curtis Lazar to the fourth line, this looks like a team that has four fully functioning, equally dangerous lines heading into the postseason.

Not only that, the emergence of rookie goalie Jeremy Swayman absolutely cannot be ignored. Essentially, the Bruins have three starting goaltenders right now. Tuukka Rask has been lights out at the right time, and Halak just got COVID at the wrong time, and subsequently has been slightly out of form, but we all know exactly what he’s capable of. Cassidy has a hell of a decision to make with only a few games remaining in the shortened regular season. Do you continue to split Tuukka and Swayman? Do you give Halak one or two more games to try to get back into form? I definitely don’t have the answer. If Bruce is reading this (and if I’m a betting man I wouldn’t put much money that he is), I’m leaning towards sticking with Rask and Swayman down the postseason stretch. It royally stinks that Halak got put into COVID protocol when he did, but it presented an opportunity to showcase perhaps the future of Boston Bruins goaltending with Jeremy Swayman, and he’s taken that opportunity in full to this point.

The fate of this Bruins team and the season as a whole is going to come down to who they play in the first round. Each of the teams that’s clinched in the East has a goaltender that’s frustrated us beyond belief and turned our hair grey. It’s just a matter of staying hot at the right time, and continuing to have these lines produce.

Ondrej Kase has also officially been deemed healthy from his long-nagging head injury (excuse me, “upper body injury”) and skated with the Bruins at practice today. Don’t forget that he was vying for that second line spot and had generated a decent relationship with Krejci before he went down. Cassidy will have some interesting decisions to make, and I’m definitely excited for what comes next.

• Uncategorized