COLUMBUS, Ohio — Morgan Geekie couldn’t find the Devils-Red Wings game on his hotel TV Saturday night, so he went old school.
“I listened to the last five minutes on the radio,” the winger said Sunday evening before his Bruins beat the Blue Jackets, 3-2, at Nationwide Arena.
When the final siren sounded, the Devils had a 5-3 win, a decision that guaranteed Boston an invitation to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Who the Bruins will play in the first round is still to be determined, but that’s a concern for another day.
“It’s huge. I think with the group that we have, we always kind of believed this could be a goal for us,” said Geekie. “And with the way that we kind of underperformed last year, I think it kind of brought expectations down. But I knew, inside here we believed and inner belief is a big thing. We faced a little bit of adversity at the start of the year, kind of just going back and forth and hovering around .500 and then when games started to matter a little bit more, we kind of upped it a little bit and we were able to string a few wins together and put ourselves in a position to control our own destiny. So, it’s good. And we appreciate the Devils getting that win for us.”
Nikita Zadorov said the New Jersey win provided a sense of relief, but he was eager to get back on the ice after the Bruins fell to the Lightning earlier Saturday.
“It wasn’t pretty, but we got it done,” said Zadorov. “Obviously it’s a big relief. I mean, we have two games left. We want to play good hockey and have a good feeling going into the playoffs.”
Zadorov said reaching the playoffs validates the belief the players had all season. They heard the preseason prognosticators who didn’t give them much of a chance to be in the postseason chase.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s great,” he said. “Sometimes it’s nice to be the underdog, especially in the big market like we are in Boston. I don’t think anybody had us in there. But with the coaching change and adding new faces in the summer, and in talking to the leadership guys, we always had one goal: to get back in the playoffs and just to be a hard team to play against.”
Marco Sturm acknowledged he was running through a range of emotions Saturday. He was still a little sour about the loss to the Lightning, but his spirits were lifted when the berth was sealed.
“It was a little bit of roller coaster, but we’ll take it for sure and we’re very excited,” the coach said.
Like his players, Sturm expressed pride in proving the naysayers wrong.
“There were a lot of doubts starting probably when we started training camp and we proved everyone wrong. So, I think that just goes to the group. Very proud of them, the way they worked all year long,” said Sturm. “Me personally, as a rookie head coach here in the league, I didn’t really know which way we were going to go, but it was for me, really clear to see that we were heading in the right direction this season and the guys deserved everything. So, good for them making the playoffs and just the way they cared, and they believed in our room to make a big push.”
Taking a break
Sturm rested veterans Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Pavel Zacha, and Viktor Arvidsson against the Blue Jackets.
The Bruins will practice Monday, finish the regular season against the Devils (their new best friends) Tuesday at TD Garden, and have Wednesday off. Playoff preparations begin Thursday.
“Basically, we have only a couple practices until Game 1. So, there’s not much [time to rest],” said Sturm. “So that’s why [with] guys that are banged up we want to take that time right now . . . guys who are banged up, hopefully, they can play Tuesday.”
Jim McBride can be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him @globejimmcbride.