The Boston Bruins have finished the season as one of the most feared, respected teams in the league. Their young core mixed with their seasoned veterans along with their all-star talent have proven to a force in the National Hockey League. The NHL playoffs have a reservoir of talented teams, and with the depletion of these talented teams, as the playoffs continue, the Bruins are destined for greatness in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Why the Boston Bruins Will Win the Stanley Cup This Year
By: Alex DiMasi & Troy Sheldon
The Boston Bruins are one of hockey’s most energized, efficient teams in the NHL. With a star-studded team led by Brad Marchand, all-star David Pastrnak, and one of the best two-way players in the league (that being Patrice Bergeron), the Bruins are destined for greatness. After finishing the season with the second best record in the league with an outstanding 49-22-9, the Bruins had their hands full for a tough gritty series with longtime rival the Toronto Maple Leafs.
After losing the first game of the series to All-Stars John Tavares and Auston Matthews, the Bruins became a force, winning the next 3 of 5 games of the series. After an intense bout with the same amount of physicality as a boxing match, hard-hitting players such as Jake DeBrusk of the Boston Bruins were able to get under the skin of the Toronto hockey club, leading to the indefinite suspension of Nazem Kadri, a pivotal piece of the Maple Leafs scoring unit. After this, Toronto eventually began to fall apart. With the outstanding goaltending of Tuukka Rask and scoring from all of the Bruins assets, Boston was able to force a game 7 match on April 23rd at the TD Garden in Boston. Both teams, who had been some of the best in hockey were playing with the season on the line.
The Bruins forced a decisive game 7 against Toronto and it was win-or-go-home. After being in the same position last year and beating the Leafs 7-4 to advance to the 2nd round. Boston had the home ice advantage and the crowd was electrified for this win-or-go-home. The Bruins came out hot and were piling on the shots on Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen. Nordstrom came in with 5 minutes to go in the first period and slipped a wrist shot past Andersen for the first goal of the game. Only two minutes later, Johannsen stole the puck and scored his first goal of the playoffs to put Boston up 2-0 going into the 1st intermission. Leafs star John Tavares scored a goal in the 2nd period to reduce the Bruins lead to 2-1. Kuraly stick-handled around 2 Leafs players and scored to get a 3-1 lead. With 2 minutes left in the game, Toronto pulled the goalie and Coyle scored an empty net goal to seal the win. With only 10 seconds left Bergeron added another empty net goal and the Bruins celebrated as they prepared for their next series against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Bruins then faced off against a functioning Columbus Blue Jackets team which has a young, star-studded cast including goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and star Artemi Panarin along with one of the fastest skaters in the league in Zach Werenski. Though the Blue Jackets have played exceptionally well this year, the Bruins have the season advantage winning 2 out of the 3 games against Columbus. Although Columbus shocked the world with a 4 game sweep over the best team in hockey (Tampa Bay Lightning) it is widely believed that the Bruins are too strong and efficient for Columbus in a 7 game series. The Bruins came out hot in Game 1 versus Columbus and finished the 1st period with 1-0 lead thanks to Noel Acciari. After Columbus scored two goals in 13 seconds to take the lead in the 3rd period, Charlie Coyle scored his 4th goal of the playoffs to tie the game and send it to overtime. In overtime, Coyle came through once again and won the game for the Bruins. The Bruins went into game 2 with 1-0 series lead but Columbus would not back down and the game ended up going to overtime once again tied 2-2. Both Rask and Andersen played amazing but Matt Duchene scored the overtime winner in double overtime. Boston would lose game 3 to Columbus in a close game but the defense was humming and the offense played amazing, with the help from an outstanding performance from defensemen Charlie Mcavoy. With the Bruins down 2-1 in the series, the Bruins have their hands full but they should be able to come out on top and advance to the next round.
If the Bruins were to advance to the 3rd round they would face either the Carolina Hurricanes or the New York Islanders. The Hurricanes are a good young team but they have no star players that can compete with the Bruins loaded roster. The Islanders would most likely be more of a challenge as they have the Stanley Cup winning coach in Barry Trotz and star young players in Jordan Eberle, Mathew Barzal, Anders Lee, and Josh Bailey. Still, the Bruins would be heavily favored over either team and should be on there way to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Western Conference has just as much talent as the Eastern Conference, with great teams such as the Dallas Stars facing off against the St. Louis Blues along with the San Jose Sharks going up against the Colorado Avalanche. According to NHL.com, the St.Louis Blues, led by their star defenceman Alex Pietrangelo. Unfortunately for the Blues, they are facing a formidable young core of the Dallas Stars with their three superstars in Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, and their Vezina Trophy finalist Ben Bishop. St.Louis has a lot on their plate coming in this series. The other matchup in the West (San Jose v.s. Colorado) has much potential to be a great series. San Jose has playoff experience, with their aging captain Joe Thornton leading the team. Colorado, on the other hand, has experience in playoff action but has two of the best young guns in the league with the duo of Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. Any team in the West could be a serviceable foe for a Stanley Cup matchup against the Bruins, but none have the depth in their roster to beat the team in black and gold. According to the gambling website “oddsshark.com,” the Bruins have the highest percentage to hoist the Cup.
We attempted an interview with famed Canadiens fan, Mathew T. Brissette. Although uninterested and denying a formal interview, we did get quotes as “The St. Louis Blues look good.” and with a painful smile he said, “Go Bruins.”
The Boston Bruins have finished the season as one of the most feared, respected teams in the league. Their young core mixed with their seasoned veterans along with their all-star talent have proven to a force in the National Hockey League. The NHL playoffs have a reservoir of talented teams, and with the depletion of these talented teams, as the playoffs continue, the Bruins are destined for greatness in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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