Ottawa, New Jersey, Columbus – just three teams that the Boston Bruins finished ahead of in the eight-team bunch that failed to make it to the postseason in 2015-16.

It’s December 1, and a look at the standings has all three now ahead of Boston in the Eastern Conference. And in the playoffs if this were the week after April 1.

Two others in that last-year lower tier are the Carolina Hurricanes and Buffalo Sabres. Just so happens they are front and center the next two games as the Bruins seek those necessary four points to keep that Thanksgiving playoff fact out of the daily conversation in the Hub of Hockey.

Monday night, the Florida Panthers come to town. No foolin’, raise your hand if you think the Bruins will outpoint the Panthers on April 1?

That thought made Thursday night’s meeting with Carolina all the more important. No gimme games for Boston this season; must-win affairs are now in full swing. The Bruins earned points in each of their last nine games against the Hurricanes; their last regulation loss on April 13, 2013.

That history seemed a good omen, eh, with Boston three points ahead of Carolina and the ‘Canes having a game in hand.

Until the starting goaltenders were announced. Anton Khudobin winless in Boston this season at 0-3-0 vs. Cam Ward at 7-7-3 with a 2.29 GAA – and 14-15-3 with a sparkling 2.62 GAA career marks vs. Boston.

Goals do not come easy against Ward, while the Bruins remain a far cry from an offensive machine with 17 of 23 games in which they scored two or fewer goals; nine of 15 in November. Make that 18 of 24.

Here’s what we learned as Boston stole two important points in one of the most dramatic finishes of the young season.

OOcean’s 11

No red lights in the scoreless first period marked the 11th time this season that the Bruins failed to score in the first 20 minutes of play – almost half their total games thus far.

BC’s Hanifin breaks the ice while B’s second-period woes persist

With the Bruins on the power play early in the second, Matt Beleskey took an odd and untimely penalty at 6:33 for a faceoff violation. A few seconds later, the ‘Canes had an even rarer 3-on-0 with Khudobin making the save. But on the ensuing Carolina rush, former Boston College and Carolina first-round pick in the 2015 Entry Draft, Noah Hanifin, sent a blue line shot past Khudobin at 7:37 for the 1-0 lead.

At the 10-minute mark, Boston had but two shots on Cam Ward, seven in the middle 20 minutes, 17 after 40.

A power play at 16:29 breathed temporary life into a comatose TD Garden, but that was quickly diffused when Boston went with nary a shot on Ward.

“I think our team for two periods was content with being okay,” Claude Julien said postgame. “But that wasn’t good enough for us. We needed to step it up in the third period and at least we did that.”

Not until crunch time.

A frantic – and almost futile – final 20

Down 1-0, wanna take a guess at the Bruins’ record when trailing entering the final period this season? How about 0-8-1.

Khudobin kept the one-goal deficit with a sparkling save on a Sebastian Aho break-in and rebound six minutes in. At 6:46, the B’s power play once again went to work. For naught, though, as they went to the 10-minute mark with only 3 shots on Ward.

Boston’s best chance of the game came with eight and a half minutes left when David Pastrnak, the B’s leading goal scorer with 13, went in alone on Ward. No go.

Seemed a 1-0 final was in order until David Backes, who made a living in St. Louis – and now Boston at $30 million for five years – by parking on goalie doorsteps did just that when Torey Krug sent a blue line blazer through a Backes screen at 19:28 with the game-tying goal; Pastrnak and David Krejci assisting.

“I had a clear shooting lane to the net,” Krug said, “and guys like Backs [David Backes] get rewarded when they take the goalie’s eyes away and I can get it through there.”

“When you work your butts off and for sure in the third, but you work for 60 minutes and have a few good chances – to see that puck rolling into the net, that’s what it’s all about,” Backes said. “Those are the ugly goals we need to have. We were able to push that into overtime, get the one point, and again, take care of business in the shootout.”

#NHLBruins tied it up with 31.5 to go in the third 🚨 pic.twitter.com/14th5Jvx7s

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) December 2, 2016

OT thriller

When Viktor Stalberg took a penalty at 1:53, it made for a 4 on 3 for Boston (rule should be 3 on 2!). Best save by Ward was a glove on Bergeron’s blistering wrist shot in the slot at the two-minute mark.

Best save by Khudobin on a clean break-in by Jeff Skinner with 15 ticks left; Boston putting a 35-shot total on Ward.

Second consecutive shootout puts two important points in Bruins’ pocket

Tuesday night, the Bruins went nine rounds in a 3-2 shootout loss at Philadelphia after coming back with two third-period goals to erase a 2-0 deficit.

Thursday night, it was the third shot of the first round with Pastrnak winning it; Khudobin named the No. 1 star in his first victory back in a Boston uniform.

“Everything was on my side today,” Khudobin said.

“He’s the reason we were still in that game late in it,” Backes said about his colleague in goal. “Sometimes, you’re going to need special performances and I think Doby had one of those special performances tonight.”

“It took us a while to get that (tying) goal,” Julien said. “And finding a way to win is important, but at the same time, we need to understand that if we want to be one of those playoff-contention teams, let’s not get satisfied with being okay and being close in games. We need to push a little harder at times.”

Like Saturday in Buffalo and Monday at home against the Panthers.