BOSTON, Mass – On the morning of April 17th the Boston Bruins were about as low as a team could get. They had just dropped the first two games at home in the opening round of the playoffs. The Bruins had only managed a single goal and had been outscored by a 5-1 margin. Once again it looked as if the Bruins would fall victim to the arch-rival Montreal Canadiens.
But something happened on the way to the bones of another season. The Bruins won the next three games including one contest in overtime and another one in double overtime. Montreal would rally to win game six, but Nathan Horton’s goal 5:43 into overtime in game seven allowed the Bruins to advance. This time it would be the Canadiens who would be seeing ghosts and not the other way around.
Boston erased more ghosts of season’s past when they swept through the Philadelphia Flyers, a team that just the season before made history by erasing the Bruins three games to none lead. That win led to a series against Tampa Bay which required seven games to complete. Once again it would be Horton who would score the series-winning goal.
Photo by Lewis Bleiman
Now, for the first time since the 1990 season, the Bruins are in the Stanley Cup finals. It’s a round that has seen the Bruins go down in defeat five times since they last captured the Stanley Cup in 1972. In 1990 the Bruins played a western Canadian powerhouse in the Edmonton Oilers, this season they will play another powerhouse from the west in the Vancouver Canucks.
By no means should the Bruins be considered the favorites in this series despite the fact the club won the only matchup between the two clubs this year. Vancouver gathered 117 points this season to the Bruins 101. The Canucks were the best regular season team during the NHL season and have a chance to be crowned as the best postseason club. Nearly all of Canada is behind them.
Oddly enough there is some symmetry in this season’s playoff run for the Bruins. They were the higher-seed in the opening round in which they knocked off the Canadiens. After that series they were the lower-seed against the Flyers. They then were the higher seed and needed seven games to defeat the Lightning. If the pattern holds the Bruins will sweep the higher-seeded Canucks.
A Boston sweep isn’t likely to happen, but the Bruins are capable of defeating the Canucks. It will all start in goal with Tim Thomas. Boston is one of the top five-on-five clubs in the league. They are one of the best clubs in the league at pinching down and “activating” their defensemen in the attacking zone. Boston is able to do so because the forwards are committed to covering for the pinching defenseman and because of Thomas’ ability to
Photo by Lewis Bleiman
In addition to Thomas the bedrock which holds the club together consists of defensemen Dennis Seidenberg and Zdeno Chara. Both Chara and Seidenberg average over 28 minutes per game (playoff ice time stats are skewed by unlimited overtime games), but not by much. For example Seidenberg played 27:57 in the final game against Tampa Bay while Chara saw 26:44 of ice time.
“We’ve been talking about them (Seidenberg and Chara) for a while because they have been that good,” said Boston coach Claude Julien. They’ve been a great shutdown pair…they’ve been a key reason why we’ve had success.”
Andrew Ference and Johnny Boychuk are the next tier of defensemen with Tomas Kaberle and Adam McQuaid providing spot relief for the big two.
The Bruins offense has been led by David Krejci and Nathan Horton. Krejci is
Photo by Lewis Bleiman
“Bergeron is to us what (Ryan) Kesler is to them,” said Julien. “He shows up, plays hard every game, he’s a great faceoff guy, power play, penalty kill, does it all for us.”
Milan Lucic rounds out the first line with Krejci and Horton. Lucic has not produced at a high rate in the playoffs, but he has been dominant on the puck and is a large reason why the Bruins control the puck for the majority of the game. Interestingly enough Lucic is a Vancouver legend from his junior hockey days.
Bergeron most often plays with Brad Marchand (6-6-12) and Michael Ryder (5-6-11). Ryder’s goals have come in bunches, in just three of the club’s 18 games, but he has been unsung defensively. Marchand’s ability to grate on opponent’s nerves and score makes a difference. That being said Marchand is in the midst of a slump with only a single score registered against the
Photo courtesy of NHL.com
The third line features Mark Recchi (scoreless and a -5 in the conference finals) and Chris Kelly. Rich Peverely and Tyler Seguin split time on the third unit. Peverely sees spot duty on the fourth line, but has also seen time with the first line when necessary. Seguin scored three goals and three assists against Tampa Bay, but his ice time was limited when Bergeron returned from injury.
Penalty-killers Gregory Campbell and Daniel Paille round out the forward lines, they don’t see much time, but when they do it comes during important sections of the game. The club’s spares are Shawn Thornton up front and Steven Kampfer or Shane Hnidy on defense. So how can the Bruins pull this off? They need to limit the Vancouver power play. They need to chip in a few power play goals of their own, and of course Thomas has to play well. Will they do so? It’s tough to judge, there has been a bit of magic to the Bruins’ run.
Maybe midnight hasn’t struck yet. Each time an obstacle has been put up they have managed to overcome it. Their last challenge begins on Wednesday evening in Vancouver.
Contact Tom.Schettino@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.