Going 7-1-2 in their last ten games, the Boston Bruins have skated into fourth place in the Eastern Conference. Behind scoring from Charlie McAvoy, David Backes, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand, the Bruins have soared into a pretty playoff position.
In fourth, if the season ended now, Boston would face the fifth place Toronto Maple Leafs. That’s not exactly an easy series for Boston, as they lost to Toronto in their two matchups this season 3-2 and 4-1 to the Leafs on November 10th and 11th, respectively. However, in December, Boston went on the rise. Chad Zimmerman, a writer for the Causeway Crowd, a division of FanSided, said, “The Boston Bruins five game win streak was snapped on Thursday night (December 28, 2017) in a disappointing loss. At least they have a good chance to rebound.” Yes, Braden Holtby and Alex Ovechkin led the Washington Capitals to a 4-3 victory over Boston, but they took the B’s to a shootout where only one goal was scored. A hard fight against the second best team in the East and the sixth best in hockey is a sign of good things to come in 2018. With the Tampa Bay Lightning way ahead in first place with 58 points, the Bruins are not thinking about catching them, yet. While first is a long shot, at 48, they are only three points out second place, currently held by the Caps. The B’s won their last game 5-0 over the Ottawa Senators. Tuukka Rask pitched his 40th career shutout. Ever since head coach Bruce Cassidy threatened Tuukka Rask’s job by starting Anton Khudobin for a couple games, Rask took initiative and has looked as good as he did back in the 2013-14 season when he won the Vezina Trophy. The goaltender has made a huge change, calmed down, and taken back the helm of this Stanley Cup caliber team. Rask has .923 save percentage and Khudobin has a .922 save percentage, the eighth and ninth best, respectively, in the league! With great gloves in the blue crease, Boston is proving a formidable opponent to the other 30 teams in the NHL. In the entire month of December, Rask did not suffer a regulation loss. He went 10-0-1 in the final month of 2017! His steady hand on the wheel is bringing Boston back to their rightful place atop the Eastern Conference and all of the entire National Hockey League! The scrappy Scandinavian skater held his own in the latter half of the 2017 portion of this 2017-2018 season and as January begins, he prepares for a start against the eighth place New York Islanders. Jaroslav Halak and Thomas Greiss split the games at goaltender for New York with Halak playing five more games at 24. Rask has a clear advantage considering Greiss has a save percentage of .884 and Halak .905. In addition to Beantown’s chances at a good spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, while they are just two points behind the third place New Jersey Devils and three behind the Caps, they have played the least games out of any team in the league at 37, tied only by the 14th place in the East Senators and the first in the West Las Vegas Golden Knights. Boston has played one less game than the Devils and a whopping three less than D.C. Happy hockey and Happy New Year! Jesse A. Cook “Behind Boston’s Bruins’ Boom” January 1, 2018
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The Boston Bruins are making their first playoff run in a few years, but what are their chances at another Stanley Cup win? At this point, pretty high. They’re a game up on Ottawa, and they won in Ottawa, so that takes away total home ice advantage for the Senators. The rest is merely a game of looking at their lineup.
We begin, however, with this opening series: the last time the Bs made the playoffs, Braden Holtby and the Washington Capitals took them down. This time, it’s Erik Karlsson and the Ottawa Senators attempting to do the same. The season series has tilted the Sens’ way, 3-0-1, but now Boston has momentum. They won a close game 2-1 on a late Brad Marchand goal off of the ricochet of Patrice Bergeron shot, and a defeat such as this can be crushing for a team. The Sens are definitely tired after that game, and despite their next match being Saturday, it takes time to recover from such a loss; especially against this brand new Beantown lineup. That brings us to my next point: Charlie McAvoy, Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson, and Anders Bjork make the Bruins a much more formidable foe to any squadron they matchup against. Combined with an un-mischievous Marchand, a terrific Tuukka Rask, a skate-breaking Bergeron, and a functioning defense, Boston has a great shot at Banner 7. JFK did not play very much and Bjork has yet to be called up, but McAvoy played 24 minutes and 11 seconds on ice. On the Marchand goal, he sent the puck out from behind the net to David Pastrnak who passed it to Bergeron where he fired a shot on goal and sent a ricochet to Marchand who won the game. McAvoy didn’t get an assist on the play, but he did a fantastic job setting it up. If JFK and Bjork can play like Good Ol’ Charlie, Boston is set for years and years and years to come, as well as at least one more Cup win this June. Now, we have to take a moment to talk about Marchy’s temper; he’s a hothead, but after years of laying rather dormant, he’s committed three offenses this year (one of which was merely last week). In January, he slewfooted the Red Wings’ Niklas Kronwall, which means that he committed a “dangerous trip.” A week later, he did it again to Tampa Bay’s Anton Stralman. Last week, he cost himself a couple games worth of ice time by spearing Tampa’s Jake Dotchin in a, uh… rather, uh… “tender area.” Let’s just leave it at that the all-star has to work on keeping his temper under control. Despite his wildness, Marchy is quite the player. He had 85 points, 39 goals, and 46 assists, as well as winning Game 1 of the Boston Bruins’ 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs run. He was also named to the Atlantic Team in the 2017 NHL All-Star Tournament alongside Boston goaltender, Rask. They may be young, inexperienced, inconsistent, and mercurial, but the Bruins have a shot at the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2014. Wednesday’s game was knotted up at 1-1 for a good long while, but after the rebound from a Bergeron bullet, the game turned to Beantown; and Marchy makes two. Jesse A. Cook April 14, 2017 “And Marchy Makes 2” |
AuthorJesse Cook: High school junior. Does play-by-play for the Sharon Varsity Eagles softball, soccer, volleyball, basketball, and football teams. Fanatic of the Boston and Cincinnati teams in the Big Four sports. Designs graphics of athletes, politicians, and musicians at Picsart.com. Archives
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