Where Bruins stand in Eastern Conference at crucial U.S. Thanksgiving benchmark

Where Bruins stand in East at crucial U.S. Thanksgiving benchmark originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

One early-season goal for NHL teams is to be in a playoff spot at U.S. Thanksgiving.

Players, coaches and executives have all talked about this important benchmark over the years, including Boston Bruins president Cam Neely.

“There’s a lot to be said for being in the playoff picture by U.S. Thanksgiving,” Neely told 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Felger & Mazz” show in 2013.

Why is it important to be in a playoff spot by this time in the calendar? 

Well, teams in the salary cap era (2005-06 to the present) that find themselves in one of the 16 playoff berths at Thanksgiving end up making the postseason more than 75 percent of the time. 

Here’s the exact stat:

The Bruins currently sit outside of a playoff berth with Thursday’s holiday looming. They are seven points behind the third and final playoff spot from the Atlantic Division and two points behind both wild card slots.

However, there are a few important caveats to note. The Bruins have played only 15 games due to a weird schedule that has seen them go three-plus days without playing three times. The season also started about a week-and-a-half later than what we typically see in an 82-game schedule.

So, while there aren’t any major reasons for Bruins fans to panic, there are a few areas of concern for the Original Six franchise.

One is that the Bruins have struggled mightily against quality opponents. They are 1-5-0 versus teams currently occupying a playoff spot, and seven of their next 11 games are against those teams. Another concern is Boston’s play away from TD Garden. The B’s have a 3-4-0 road record, which is a bit disappointing, especially for a team that’s won 20 or more road matchups in each of the last five seasons where 70-plus games were played (2015-16 through 2019-20).

The Bruins also rank 29th in 5-on-5 save percentage (.906) and 26th in 5-on-5 shooting percentage (6.43), per Natural Stat Trick. Not a…