NEW YORK — Here in the city that never sleeps, the Bruins woke up in their five-star hotel on New Year’s Day, pulled on their work clothes (sweaters, short pants, long stockings), and boarded a charter bus to a public skating facility at the edge of the Hudson River for a brief offday workout.
It was a throwback Wednesday, with the members of the Bruins’ $87 million roster dashing around the homey, puck-marked Chelsea Piers rink looking and smiling like the little kids they once were.
But before touching blades to ice, they piled into a massive freight elevator that carried them up a flight or two from street level to rinkside. They clutched skates in hands for the ride. Once in the arena, they plopped down wherever they could, many of them in Row 1 of the bleachers, and laced up their steel-toed work boots for a brisk, stress-free 30-minute workout.
“Yeah, just like LoConte!” said the smiling coach, Joe Sacco, referring to the MDC rink in his hometown of Medford, Mass.
Charlie Coyle, who grew up in Weymouth, Mass., said he felt like he was back at the Connell Rink where he first skated and also took swimming lessons as a preschooler.
“We were always at either at the MDC rink or Pilgrim Arena in Hingham,” noted Coyle, as he was departing Chelsea Piers. “It’s really neat here, you know, gotta love the blue-collaredness of it.”
Team captain Brad Marchand noted that the trip to the Chelsea facility “added a different element to the day” that everyone enjoyed.
“Yeah, any of these old, kind of rundown buildings and rinks, they’re not very comfortable and all that,” mused Marchand, asked if it reminded him of his childhood days in the arenas around Halifax, Nova Scotia. “But it’s definitely what we all grew up playing in, brings you back to being a kid.”
Come Thursday night, under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden, the Bruins will return to the work-a-day world of the NHL’s Original 32. They’ll oppose a Rangers team — projected by many in September to vie for the Stanley Cup — that has plummeted in the Eastern Conference standings over the last 4-6 weeks.
The 16-19-1 Rangers, coached by the Bay State’s Peter Laviolette, awoke on Day 1 of 2025 with a mere 33 points, only one above the bottom-feeding Sabres, who recently snapped a 13-game (0-10-3) winless skid.
The Bruins, meanwhile, even after Tuesday’s 3-1 matinee loss in Washington, under Sacco have regained a foothold in their pursuit of a playoff berth. Still with 43 games to go, as of Wednesday their .564 points percentage ranked No. 7 in the conference.
They’re hardly a shoo-in for the postseason, but it likely would take a Rangers-like implosion for them not to be one of the eight teams that qualify in the East.
“Second quarter [of the season] was definitely better,” said Marchand, after first noting the disappointing 8-9-3 start in the first quarter that led to Jim Montgomery being canned as coach. “There’s definitely areas we can improve, but our five-on-five game is coming. Our special teams still need to be a little bit better.”
The power play, in particular, needs to pump up the volume, after 39 games of operating at barely a mumble. It struggled under Montgomery and has remained flat under Sacco. Penalty killing has been nearly as impotent. As of Wednesday morning, the Bruins were among three teams (along with Detroit and Calgary) to have allowed a league-worst 31 power-play goals.
Sacco, following the workout, said he was uncertain if he’ll roll out the same two power-play groups — one backed by Charlie McAvoy, the other by Mason Lohrei — that took an 0 for 2 in D.C. The power play has gone 0 for 6 over the last three games.
“I’m going to sleep on it tonight,” Sacco said. “We’ll figure that out in the morning. It’s an area that we’ve got to continue to improve on.”
Swayman again?
Sacco said he is “leaning toward” going with Jeremy Swayman, who stopped 24 of 26 shots in the loss to Washington, vs. the Rangers … The lines and D pairings were the same in the workout as vs. the Capitals, which could point to Oliver Wahlstrom and Jordan Oesterle again being scratched Thursday … With star goaltender Igor Shesterkin just placed on injured reserve, the Rangers likely will turn to veteran Jonathan Quick, long ago of UMass Amherst, to handle their net … The Bruins have scored the opening goal in 18 of their 39 games. Justin Brazeau potted five of those 18 openers, followed next by Cole Koepke, Marchand, and Coyle (with two each).
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.