The Boston Bruins have made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, where they will again vie for their elusive seventh Stanley Cup. Before the 2018-2019 season started, not many fans around predicted the Bruins to be just four wins away from the Stanley Cup.
But as the Bruins have won seven straight games, they have put themselves in a position to climb to the top of the NHL mountaintop. The storyline of the past few seasons has offered a positive outlook for the Bruins chances to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup.
An aging core, two consecutive times missing the playoffs, and disappointment in 2018. Those are just examples of how unexpectedly it is for the Bruins to make the Stanley Cup Final. They missed the playoffs in 2015 and 2016. In 2017, with Bruce Cassidy’s late-season magic, the B’s made the playoffs but couldn’t survive the onslaught of the Ottawa Senators in the first round.
In 2018, it finally seemed like the big bad Bruins were back. They nearly won the Eastern Conference outright in the regular season and finished with 112 points. In the first round, they defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs. But in the second round, the B’s lost four straight to the Tampa Bay Lightning after winning the series opener.
Boston hasn’t been as consistent during the 2018-19 campaign compared to the prior season. And the Tampa Bay Lightning, which rather easily knocked out the Bruins a season ago, looked even more powerful. But that’s the beauty of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
That scary Tampa Bay team lost in four games in the first round. The door was open. The Bruins just needed to take advantage.
In the first round, they faced an early elimination game in Toronto as the Leafs had a 3-2 series lead. But ever since that Game 5 at TD Garden, when the Bruins dropped a pivotal contest after a rather controversial call on the Leafs opening goal, the Bruins have shown some resiliency.
Ever since that Game 5 loss, the Bruins have won 10 of their following 12 games. Not many people believed that this Bruins team has all that it takes to battle for the Stanley Cup, especially seeing strong opposition in their own division.
Nevertheless, here the Bruins stand, just four wins away from the Stanley Cup. The Bruins have some time to heal their wounds and prepare mentally to face the toughest task in the world – win four games on seven attempts in the biggest stage in hockey.
