They still don’t know who they’re going to play yet, either the St. Louis Blues or the San Jose Sharks, and it doesn’t really matter to the Boston Bruins as they aim for their seventh Stanley Cup this season. The Bruins have made it to the final series for the 20th time after disposing of the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the opening series followed by a six-game victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets and a four-game sweep over the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final.
Boston won the Prince of Wales Trophy as Eastern Conference champions but won’t be satisfied unless they hoist Lord Stanley’s cup. Whoever the Bruins end up playing they will have home ice advantage in the series due to finishing second overall in the NHL standings this season. This will be Boston’s third appearance in the Stanley Cup final in the past nine seasons. The last time they played for all the marbles was in the 2012/13 campaign when they lost in six outings to the Chicago Blackhawks. The last time they won the cup was 2010/11 when they beat the Vancouver Canucks in the seventh and deciding game.
The Bruins have captured the title six times in club history to rank in a fourth-place tie with Chicago for the most cups. They are also level with the Blackhawks for the most cups won by an American franchise, but quite a way behind the record of 11 which belongs to the Detroit Red Wings. However, the Bruins haven’t really had much luck in Stanley Cup final series as they have won six and lost 13. This translates into a winning percentage of just 31.6. They’ll now try to improve on that stat starting on May 27th when the final series gets underway in Boston.
The Bruins have reached this year’s final mainly due to the depth of their squad as well as their successful power-play and the fine work of 32-year-old goaltender Tuukka Rask of Finland. Boston’s power play operated at a clip of 46.7 per cent in the Eastern Conference final against Carolina as they were seven for 15 and their penalty killing unit killed off 92.9 per cent of their penalties by going 13 for 14. The Bruins’ power-play has been successful a league-best 34 per cent of the time in the postseason while their penalty killing is an impressive 86.3 per cent.
In between the posts, Rask’s record is 12-5 with two shutouts, a 1.84 goals-against average and a league-leading 94.2 save percentage. He’s been getting plenty of scoring help as the Bruins have received at least one goal in the playoffs from 19 different players to set a new league record. Brad Marchand leads the way with seven goals and 11 assists in 17 games followed by David Pastrnak with seven goals and eight assists, David Krejci at four goals and 10 helpers, Patrice Bergeron with eight goals and five assists. Charlie Coyle at six goals and six assists and defenceman Torey Krug with a goal and 11 assists.
That’s half a dozen players who have reached double digits in points so far and Marcus Johansson has nine points in 15 games on three goals and nine assists. General manager Don Sweeney deserves credit for the contributions of Coyle and Johansson as he acquired both players at the trade deadline in February. Coyle came over from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for for Ryan Donato and a conditional fifth-round draft choice while Johansson was landed from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a second and fourth-rounder.
Coyle and Johansson took some time to get used to their new surroundings in Boston as Coyle chipped in with just a pair of goals and six points in 21 regular-season contests and Johansson contributed a goal and three points in 10 games. However, they have both brought experience and size to the Bruins in the postseason as well as some much appreciated secondary scoring. Coyle is centering Johansson and Danton Heinen and Heinen has also helped the team out with two goals and five assists during the postseason. If Boston can continue to light up the lamp on the power-play, get good goaltending from Rask and receive contributions from the third and fourth line they should have a good shot at adding a seventh Stanley Cup banner to their rink.