Hockey fans in Boston are growing restless. The beards are getting itchy. It has been nearly three days since hockey has been played in this town. 

OK, so it isn’t exactly the NFL lockout (a rare opportunity for hockey to say that about another sport), but you get the point. On Friday, the Bruins shook hands with the Flyers at TD Garden after completing their four-game sweep of Philadelphia in convincing fashion. Since then, they haven’t had much to do. They didn’t have practice on Saturday or Sunday, and who knows when they’ll play again?

The Bruins know who they’ll be facing in the conference finals, and where it will be. Yet they don’t know when the Lightning will first take to the Garden as the teams attempt to advance to the Stanley Cup finals. 

The holdup, of course, is a couple of lopsided-turned-interesting series over in the West. After jumping out to a 3-0 series lead, the Sharks have let the Red Wings crawl their way back into the series, and on Sunday Detroit picked up its second straight win to make it a 3-2 series with an opportunity to tie it Tuesday at Joe Louis Arena. The Predators trailed 3-1 in their series with Vancouver before winning Saturday to make it 3-2, meaning it could potentially be late in the week before both series are decided. 

For obvious reasons, any wait that may come as a result of the Western Conference semifinals should be welcomed by the Bruins. The subject was briefly touched on in this space over the weekend, but Boston has nothing to lose by seeing these Western teams take their sweet time and allowing for a later start to the conference finals. There’s the obvious reason of wanting to play as few games as possible while Patrice Bergeron recovers from a concussion, but the bottom line is that having so much time off doesn’t hurt the Bruins -- or at least it shouldn’t. 

On the subject of Bergeron, as much as the B’s want to give their postseason point-leader as much of a chance to continue to have an impact for them, this might not be a case of one or two days being the difference between the B’s feeling confident in sending him back out there or not. As badly as this team wants to make the most of this opportunity (its first conference finals appearance in 19 years), they’ll play Bergeron again depending on when he’s ready, and not necessarily depending on how deep into the series it is. 

Still, as mentioned above, the time off doesn’t hurt. The B’s do get a much-deserved breather here. Though they made quick work of the Flyers, the seven-game first round against the Canadiens was hardly a cakewalk, and everyone knows the playoffs can be physically taxing. Now at the half-way mark of the postseason, the Bruins, to foolishly compare the NHL to youth soccer, get their orange break. When their rest and preparation for the Lightning ends remains to be seen. The soonest things could be wrapped up in the West is Tuesday, though either series forcing a Game 7 would delay the conference finals schedules from being released. Until then, the Bruins practice, catch their breath and rest.  

In addition to rest, there is the other “r” word that is commonly associated with having a significant amount of time off: rust. The Bruins are red-hot, having won five games in a row and eight of their last nine contests. Their first line is coming off a series in which it devastated the Flyers to the tune of eight goals over four games. Their goaltender? A .953 save percentage in the four-game sweep. Their captain is healthy and has found his groove. The Bruins are firing on all (healthy) cylinders, and one would have an argument that the Bruins should fear too much time off. 

Yet here’s why the Bruins shouldn’t worry: If rust could really kick in and prove to doom a team in this series, it shouldn’t be the Bruins. In fact, the Lightning is the only team in the playoffs hotter than the Bruins, as Tampa Bay has won its last seven in a row, including a quick sweep of the top-seeded Capitals. If any team should be worrying about their groove being interrupted by too much time off, it is the Lightning.

Then there’s the whole idea of rust and how it impacts a team. Is there a weaker excuse out there? Both of these teams overcame deficits in the first round before going on to sweep their opponents in the semifinals, so both of them obviously have guts. They also both know that they’re eight wins away from a Stanley Cup, and four away from a chance at one. Something about that says neither team will exactly be lollygagging out there. 

So, Boston may go quite a few more days without actually playing. It might hurt the fans' sanity, but it can’t hurt the Bruins.