NBC Playoff Coverage
Game 2: Boston Bruins at Buffalo Sabres (Buffalo leads 1-0)
Live on NBC at 1:00 PM ET
Maybe I’m in the minority here, but in my eyes, the Boston Bruins have been impressively resilient this season. Just think of all the follies that faced that team. If injuries to key players such as Marc Savard and Milan Lucic weren’t enough, they’ve dealt with the post-contract lulls of players including Tim Thomas. If you may recall, Pro Hockey Talk (and plenty of other media outlets/bloggers/angry guys on the street) beat up on the B’s for doing very little in what was supposed to be a bloodbath against the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 18. After all, a 3-0 flat-line effort was the last thing people expected from Boston coming on the heels of Matt Cooke’s suspension-free hit to Marc Savard’s head.
Lost in those negative headlines is the fact that the Bruins used that negative feedback to make a nice run to the Eastern Conference’s sixth seed. Take a look at the little spreadsheet I threw together that chronicles two different, recent time periods for the Bruins. First, you can see Boston’s tepid performance following the March 7 game in which Savard was injured. Then, notice the way the Bruins used that negative energy from the 3-0 loss, going 8-3-1 to take 17 of a possible 24 points to finish the season hotter than a bowl of chowder.
More on the Bruins’ scrappy season after the jump.
Look, there’s no secret that the Bruins score about as well as a Satanist at a Bible camp, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are a scrappy bunch who made the playoffs by sheer, grind-it-out effort. As I discussed in the post about Ryan Miller, there’s a chance the Bruins might find it difficult to snap out of their scoring funk. Still, Boston has reason to believe that there is a goal-scoring light at the end of their snake-bitten tunnel. Hopefully, Savard will come back next year without concussion issues. With the second pick thanks to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Bruins can choose between who’s left in the Taylor Hall-Tyler Seguin debate or go with another promising prospect.
In the mean time, the team showed plenty of grit and determination despite the fact that people counted them out again and again. Sure, it’s not as sexy as dominating the East like they did last year, but count me as one of the impressed few.