Bruins to Play in First Boston Sporting Event After Marathon Bombings

On Monday, the Boston Bruins went from worrying about coming back home after a couple of losses to fight off Ottawa, to worrying about the victims of the Boston Marathon explosion. On Wednesday, they will attempt to help lead Bostonians back to a life of normal by taking the ice at 7:30 ET on NBC Sports against Buffalo in the first sporting event in the city since the explosion. Ottawa crept to within three points of the Bruins for the fourth spot in the playoffs, which is the final spot to get home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Rnk	Eastern	DIV	GP	W	L	OT	P
1	Pittsburgh	ATL	42	32	10	0	64
2	Montréal	NE	42	26	11	5	57
3	Washington	SE	43	24	17	2	50
4	Boston	NE	41	26	11	4	56
5	Toronto	NE	43	24	14	5	53
6	Ottawa	NE	42	22	14	6	50
7	NY Islanders	ATL	43	22	16	5	49
8	NY Rangers	ATL	42	21	17	4	46
9	Winnipeg	SE	43	22	19	2	46
10	Buffalo	NE	43	18	19	6	42
11	Philadelphia	ATL	43	19	21	3	41
12	New Jersey	ATL	42	15	17	10	40
13	Tampa Bay	SE	43	17	22	4	38
14	Carolina	SE	42	17	23	2	36
15	Florida	SE	42	13	23	6	32

Cars and even sports reporters faced tight inspections going into the arena throughout the day. With a win, Boston could move into second place in the Eastern Conference, which would give them home ice advantage until the conference final – perhaps against Pittsburgh. The Bruins are currently behind Washington only because the three divisional leaders get the first three spots, so a win for Boston could leapfrog them by making the Bruins first in the loaded Northeast Division.

Six days after the 9/11 attacks, the New York Yankees took the field and rallied the city and the nation. The Yankees eventually made it to the World Series that year before losing in seven games to the Arizona Diamondbacks.