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The Bruins face a must-win game Thursday night at TD Garden against the Red Wings – Metro US
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The Bruins face a must-win game Thursday night at TD Garden against the Red Wings

The Bruins face a must-win game Thursday night at TD Garden against the Red
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For the second straight spring, the Bruins are collapsing in front of our eyes. Even if they do sneak into the Stanley Cupdance in the next few days, their prospects of going anywhere aren’t good. At all.

Nonetheless, Thursday’s game against the Red Wings at TD Garden (7 p.m., NESN-plus, NBCSN) will have a playoff atmosphere as both teams would be thankful for the right to get pounded by the Capitals in Round 1.

It’s also a huge game for head coach Claude Julien, who will likely be fired if his team fails to make the postseason for a second straight year. Julien was in no mood to discuss his future this week.

“I’m not answering those questions,” Julien told WEEI.com. “Every year I get the same thing. So I’m not even thinking about that.”

The Red Wings (40-28-11, 91 points) were in the postseason heading into their key showdown with the Flyers (39-26-13, 91 points) Wednesday night. The Flyers also play Thursday at home against Toronto, Saturday at home against Pittsburgh and Sunday in Brooklyn against the Islanders. The Red Wings play at the Bruins Thursday and at the Rangers on Saturday to close out their regular season.

The Bruins have only two games left – Thursday’s game – and Saturday’s home game against the Senators. As has been beaten into the ground this season – the B’s are actually worse at home than they are on the road. They’ve gone just 16-17-6 this season at TD Garden. The Red Wings are a solid 19-15-5 on the road this season.

Also of note, the B’s have won in regulation just three times in their last 11 games.