When the league implemented the bye week concept a few years ago, the first thing teams complained about was returning to play after 5 days off and playing teams that are were not idle. The record of teams playing their first game back against a team that was not on a bye was terrible. It was like a free win for non-bye teams. So the league tried to address this and have half the league sit at the same time and return and play each other while the other half got the bye.
Here, in a non bye year due to the ENTIRE MONTH OF FEBRUARY BEING OFF, the Bruins have a 5-day layoff and return to play a back-to-back against teams that will have played twice already this week. Fucking crazy. They've had two days off of practice this week because they literally have nothing to do.