There isn’t a more explosive team in the NHL right now than the Boston Bruins. After starting the season 3-7-0, the B’s have won eight in a row and find themselves right back in a playoff position.
Not only are the Stanley Cup champs winning, they’re blowing teams out of the rink. Boston has outscored its opponents by a 41-14 margin in the last eight games.
That’s an average score of 5.1 to 1.8.
“We were sick of losing so we did something about it,” said defenseman Dennis Seidenberg.
“We’re willing to do the things that you have to do to win hockey games and I didn’t feel that we were ready to do that in the first month of the season,” echoed coach Claude Julien.
That the B’s are hungry for wins in November after hoisting the Cup in June is commendable. The Blackhawks had an eight-game winning streak last season, but their post-championship malaise didn’t end until late February.
To be fair, Chicago had to adjust to a depleted roster; the Bruins are largely the same team, plus Tyler Seguin’s emerged as one of the league’s top scorers.
However, ‘Hawks Duncan Keith admitted he suffered from a lack of motivation once the summer of celebration was over.
“I’m not making any excuses but I didn’t feel excited coming back at the start the season,” Keith said during the first round of the playoffs.
“Once you get off to a bad start and you’re not happy with it, it’s tough to get out of. It can snowball in some ways. You think you’re getting out of it then it comes back and becomes a mental thing. It makes you appreciate having a good start.”
The Bruins are in Montreal tonight looking to make it nine in a row.