Boston Bruins Let this sink in

[sarge88]

Gonzo said it better than I now, but essentially it’s the wrong way to look at that stat because even less of teams 2-8 win the cup

I get it.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

I deleted a huge response I had typed out because I just couldn’t make it sound right. Just know that I really want this team to win the Stanley Cup in the worst way.

With you brother.

 

[Bradely]

Sure but the league in 77 was full of guys who sold insurance in the off season. And there was no cap. There’s another side of it too.

Insurance? I thought they were selling beer....and playing softball marketing games!

 

[TP70BruinsCup]

I'm not that worried about Round 1. The Islanders could be a tough out however I think the Bruins overcome them. This isn't the same team as that 2021 team that had basically no production from their 3rd and 4th lines.

Round 2 this year is the troublesome one. One way or another you're getting a challenging opponent. I'm not sure which one brings bigger pressure. Facing a Leaf team coming off it's first playoff series victory in 2 decades salivating to face their playoff boogeyman in the Boston Bruins (plus all the added media attention in Canada).

Or facing the Bruins own playoff boogeyman in a sense in the form of the three-time consecutive cup finalist in TB who are beatable but won't go down easy.

Round 2 to me is pick your poison.

I still don’t think TO’s goaltending beats TB in a 7 game series. They would need a lot of help and TO is a good team but…..I still think they get taken down by TB. But TB’s days of dominance are coming to an end in terms of success past round 1. That team has played a lot of hockey over the last few years, shortened seasons or not it catches up to you.

 

[BruinDust]

I still don’t think TO’s goaltending beats TB in a 7 game series. They would need a lot of help and TO is a good team but…..I still think they get taken down by TB. But TB’s days of dominance are coming to an end in terms of success past round 1. That team has played a lot of hockey over the last few years, shortened seasons or not it catches up to you.

They came awfully close to doing so last year with a lesser (much lesser IMO) goaltender in Jack Campbell.

 

[Bruinswillwin77]

They came awfully close to doing so last year with a lesser (much lesser IMO) goaltender in Jack Campbell.

The Leafs always come awfully close.

 

[UConn126]

Greatest sports year of my life was 2011. UConn won the national basketball championship and the Bruins won the Cup.


Now UConn just won another championship and the Bruins sit at the top of the league.... Would be awesome to see a repeat of 2011.

 

[Fenway]

People forget how the 2019 Columbus/Lightning series began



BUT - The Bruins have someone in the room who will remind them hockey is a 60-minute game


There is only one team in the East that scares me

 

[Aussie Bruin]

While more championships would have been nice, I find the implication that the current Bruins have a "loser" label to be pretty harsh and not on par with what I feel most hockey fans see. I hear that kind of stuff about the Oilers and Leafs. If anything, most of what I hear about the Bruins is just general trash talk but also a fair amount of jealousy from other fanbases that we are closing in on 15 years of a consistently competitive team that has been to three Championships and won one.

It is absolutely going to suck if they don't win a Championship this year. But f*** that, they aren't losers if they don't take it home.

I would definitely say that "losers" is too harsh, but I've said before that the Bruins of the last 15 years have been "underachievers" and I stand by that. Really the whole history of the franchise is full of a lot of doing well but ultimately falling short. There's good and bad in that, but at some point you have to cash in on your opportunities and Boston's strike rate in that regard is pretty poor.

Now here we are again, and the stakes have rarely been higher. Statistically the most successful regular season Bruins team of all time, with a roster that's as good as it's going to get and whose best chance in the short-medium term is most definitely this year. To be knocked out after such a dominant run would hurt even more than usual, exacerbated by the knowledge that they almost certainly can't just load up again next season.

Let's not oversell it - winning the Cup is incredibly tough no matter how good you are, the team can't control injuries, the sun will still come up the next day after a defeat should it occur, and this season can and should always be remembered as a truly special one, no matter what the final outcome is. But the playoffs are where it gets real, and lifting the Cup is the only true mark of success. Thank God for 2011, and let's not forget it, but this core has burned too many other chances and is too late in the day to be able to let another one slip without some serious regret. It's time to deliver. Nothing less will feel satisfactory.

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

Can we just stipulate that it will be very disappointing if the Bruins don’t win the Cup? We all know that. It doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate what an amazing season this has been, nor does it keep us from enjoying the push for history. This thread was about the regular season success they’ve had - it’s ok to enjoy it. No one needs to be told that the playoffs mean infinitely more - we all get it.

 

[BTO]

16-12 is all I care about. Preferably < 12 (much less) too because I’d prefer zero game 7s. So 16-8. At worst. If they do that then 60 wins will mean something. Until they do that it means nothing.

 

[DarrenBanks56]

I'm not that worried about Round 1. The Islanders could be a tough out however I think the Bruins overcome them. This isn't the same team as that 2021 team that had basically no production from their 3rd and 4th lines.

Round 2 this year is the troublesome one. One way or another you're getting a challenging opponent. I'm not sure which one brings bigger pressure. Facing a Leaf team coming off it's first playoff series victory in 2 decades salivating to face their playoff boogeyman in the Boston Bruins (plus all the added media attention in Canada).

Or facing the Bruins own playoff boogeyman in a sense in the form of the three-time consecutive cup finalist in TB who are beatable but won't go down easy.

Round 2 to me is pick your poison.

im not worried about the isles or pitt. it would be the panthers that would scare me a bit. they will give us trouble in round 1 if we face them.

 

[Patdud]

It’s not necessarily the Bruins who make me worry.

Its the 2019 Lightning

And the fact that, what, 75% of President’s trophy winners don’t win it all.

The 1 seed has the highest "winning percentage" of cups in league history. Whether you decide to give it a name or not is irrelevant.

the bruins have had one stretch of Series losing hockey this year (losing 4 of 7 games) and those loses included a 3-3 OT and SO loss. for them to lose a series they would have to do something they haven't done yet (to this point) this year. how that stacks up to the other top ever teams who didn't win IDK

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

im not worried about the isles or pitt. it would be the panthers that would scare me a bit. they will give us trouble in round 1 if we face them.

I'm sure the Panthers would relish the chance to be the big underdog after last season's playoffs.

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

I'm sure the Panthers would relish the chance to be the big underdog after last season's playoffs.

They can relish all the want. That franchise has no soul.

 

[McGarnagle]

The Panthers are coached by Paul Maurice. That enough shows me that we have nothing to worry about there.

(I know someone's going to try to bring up 2009 to refute that, but different world, different league back then)

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

Can we just stipulate that it will be very disappointing if the Bruins don’t win the Cup? We all know that. It doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate what an amazing season this has been, nor does it keep us from enjoying the push for history. This thread was about the regular season success they’ve had - it’s ok to enjoy it. No one needs to be told that the playoffs mean infinitely more - we all get it.

^^^^

This

 

[MerlotLineFan]

An angle that has not been discussed in the conversation about Monteal's point dominance in the 70's was the lack of some of the best players in the world in the NHL. There were barely any European players during those years as the physical side of the game was more prolific and the skilled less physical European players went to the WHA. Also, the complete lack of Soviet players at the time meant far less competition in those days.

I do not want to come off as though I do not respect what they accomplished, but there were advantages in the NHL that were taken advantage of by the top teams.

 

[Aussie Bruin]

Can we just stipulate that it will be very disappointing if the Bruins don’t win the Cup? We all know that. It doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate what an amazing season this has been, nor does it keep us from enjoying the push for history. This thread was about the regular season success they’ve had - it’s ok to enjoy it. No one needs to be told that the playoffs mean infinitely more - we all get it.

Nothing's stopping you, celebrate away.

But reality is there's only so much 'celebrating' you can do on a forum - the format is not conducive to it - and thoughts inevitably turn forwards at a time like this. It's the nature of the beast. But I think don't mistake that for not also enjoying what's been achieved so far, as I for one have had a fantastic time this season.

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

Nothing's stopping you, celebrate away.

But reality is there's only so much 'celebrating' you can do on a forum - the format is not conducive to it - and thoughts inevitably turn forwards at a time like this. It's the nature of the beast. But I think don't mistake that for not also enjoying what's been achieved so far, as I for one have had a fantastic time this season.

It’s just that this thread is specifically about the regular season success is all. People saying “none of this matters if they don’t win a cup” is a tautology that’s posted everywhere. Why not one thread that can just be about how well they’ve done so far?

 

[Aussie Bruin]

It’s just that this thread is specifically about the regular season success is all. People saying “none of this matters if they don’t win a cup” is a tautology that’s posted everywhere. Why not one thread that can just be about how well they’ve done so far?

I think because discussions are like novels - they won't get very far if the content is all just positivity and good things. For better or worse that's often the way of it.

People are going to talk about what they want to talk about (as long as it's at least vaguely connected to the topic), but there need not be an issue with that because a thread's not strictly linear. Even if some of it's gone off in a direction you don't agree with, there's nothing stopping you from ignoring or refuting that stuff and instead posting on what's of interest to you. If it turns out to also be of interest to others, then the conversation will flourish in that direction, if not, it won't.

 

[MarchysNoseKnows]

I think because discussions are like novels - they won't get very far if the content is all just positivity and good things. For better or worse that's often the way of it.

People are going to talk about what they want to talk about (as long as it's at least vaguely connected to the topic), but there need not be an issue with that because a thread's not strictly linear. Even if some of it's gone off in a direction you don't agree with, there's nothing stopping you from ignoring or refuting that stuff and instead posting on what's of interest to you. If it turns out to also be of interest to others, then the conversation will flourish in that direction, if not, it won't.

Ok