Historically, teams who are in a playoff spot right around Thanksgiving time have a pretty good chance of advancing to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in April. Last year, 13 of 16 teams who were in the top eight in their respective conference advanced to the postseason. The Bruins, however, were one of three teams who couldn’t hold on — along with the Maple Leafs and Kings — and missed the playoffs for the first time under Claude Julien.

This year, the Bruins are facing a similar dilemma. If the season ended today, they would advance to the playoffs as one of the two wild-card teams in the Eastern Conference. They can improve that standing and jump to third place in the Atlantic Division tonight when they travel to Detroit for their second of four meetings of the season against the Red Wings.

Behind three second period goals, the Bruins won the first meeting of the season over the Red Wings on November 14th, 3-1. The B’s have won five in a row against Detroit and have an opportunity to extend that to six in a row and establish more momentum heading into Friday’s matchup with the red-hot New York Rangers.

Gametime: 7:30 p.m.
TV/Radio: NESN/98.5 The Sports Hub
Records: Bruins 11-8-1 (23 points), Red Wings 11-8-2 (24 points)
Location: Joe Louis Arena

Bruins projected lines:

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Jimmy Hayes
Matt Beleskey-David Krejci-Loui Eriksson
Ryan Spooner-Joonas Kemppainen-Brett Connolly
Zac Rinaldo-Max Talbot-Landon Ferraro

Zdeno Chara-Zach Trotman
Dennis Seidenberg-Colin Miller
Torey Krug-Adam McQuaid

Jonas Gustavsson
Tuukka Rask

Red Wings projected lines

Justin Abdelkader-Henrik Zetterberg-Dylan Larkin
Brad Richards-Pavel Datsyuk-Teemu Pulkkinen
Tomas Tatar-Riley Sheahan-Gustav Nyquist
Drew Miller-Luke Glendening-Darren Helm

Niklas Kronwall-Mike Green
Dan DeKeyser-Jonathan Ericsson
Brendan Smith-Alexey Marchenko

Petr Mrazek
Jimmy Howard

Matchup to watch: Bruins power play vs. Red Wings penalty kill

Held without a power play goal in their last two games, Torey Krug hopes to spark the Bruins PP against the Red Wings. (Photo by Joe Makarski/Bruins Daily)

One of the few teams who held the Bruins’ league-leading power play at bay was the Red Wings. Granted, the Black and Gold only had one chance with the man advantage in their first matchup, but there’s a reason to think that Detroit’s penalty kill can shut the B’s power play down.

The Red Wings enter tonight’s game in a tie for seventh on the penalty kill — with the Kings — with a success rate of 84.3 percent. Additionally, Detroit has only allowed one power play goal in its last 15 penalty kills and enter tonight’s game having killed seven straight penalties.

The Bruins, who have a success rate of 32.3 percent on the man advantage, failed to score a power play goal in their home and home with the Maple Leafs. Will they able to snap that two-game skid?

Storyline to watch: Can the Bruins surpass the Red Wings in the standings?

Zdeno Chara, David Krejci and the rest of the Bruins hope to jump to third place in the Atlantic Division with a win over the Red Wings. (Photo by Joe Makarski/Bruins Daily)

We already highlighted the importance of being in the top eight come Turkey Day. For a team in transition, the Bruins have surprised some pundits and fans with their current standing. The Red Wings are also transitioning with a new coach in Jeff Blashill, but they have a healthy mix of youth (like Dylan Larkin, Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist) and veterans (like Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Niklas Kronwall).

One team could find themselves in third place in the Atlantic Division at the end of the night. The other will be in the crowded list of teams fighting for a wild card spot. Granted, it’s still early, but as history notes, being in the top eight around Thanksgiving is a pretty good omen.