Divisional Focus: Red Wings Look to Ice the Bruins’ Rebuild

The Red Wings aim to win four crucial divisional games over the Boston Bruins next season 

The Red Wings will be battling this upcoming season to end their nine-year playoff drought and one of the biggest things they'll need to do to ensure that they make the postseason is win crucial games. The Atlantic Division is tougher than ever and with only three available spots plus a pair of wild card spots, they need to win these games. 

One of their key divisional opponents is the retooling Boston Bruins. Detroit is coming off a 2-1 victory in the matchup last March but prior to the win had lost three in a row. Despite Boston normally sitting as a consistent contender, The Red Wings have kept games close in their rebuilding years with a 11-11-3 record over their last 25 matchups. 

The two teams have a historic rivalry, rooted in hatred, dating back to their first matchup in 1927 and they've since faced off 621 times. The Red Wings historically hold the upper hand with a 266-253-95-7 record. The Bruins made several adds to try and bounce back this season with players like Tanner Jeannot, Viktor Arvidsson, and Sean Kuraly, as well as defenseman Henri Jokiharju. 

This comes after a troubling season where they finished tied for last place in the East with a 33-39-10 record due to a bottom six offence and a bottom seven defence. This led them to dealing their captain and longtime Bruin Brad Marchand as well as key player in defenceman Brandon Carlo. 

Detroit will look to continue their run of success versus Boston with adds like all-star goaltender John Gibson as well as better depth options like former Bruin James van Riemsdyk, Winnipeg's Mason Appleton and bringing back Patrick Kane. The wins in the matchup will be crucial for both sides as Detroit desperately want to make the postseason while Boston looks to rebound after a hard year. 

They will face off against each other four times with the first set of games featuring a back-to-back on November 29th in Boston followed by a home matchup on December 2nd. They will travel back to Boston January 13th before playing them at home again on March 21st.