from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

Biggest surprises

▪ Bruins — All they do is win. Almost. Even those rare times when they lose, they snap right back. After last Saturday’s overtime loss to the Sabres, they pulled off a 2-1 comeback win over the Penguins in the Winter Classic at Fenway, leaving them 8-0-0 in games following a loss....

▪ Kraken — The sophomore upstarts will be at the Garden Thursday night (for Game No. 41 on the Bruins’ schedule) and they are in the thick of the mix for one of the West’s eight playoff seeds, currently dancing above the wild-card cut line....

Biggest letdowns

▪ Panthers — Rolled up the league’s best regular-season record (58-18-6) last year and then pulled off the biggest deal of the offseason, bringing in Matthew Tkachuk for scoring and grit....

▪ Avalanche — Last season’s Cup winner hasn’t struggled at Panthers-level, but their 19-15-3 mark heading into the weekend had them 2 points south of a wild-card spot in the West....

more on each of the above plus other teams too...