The Boston Bruins are in the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and the Columbus Blue Jackets will be a tough opponent.
That was one hell of a series! The Boston Bruins were victorious in Game 7 and are now facing off against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Boston was the better team. Everyone was expecting the Bruins to advance. If they didn’t it would have been a disappointment.
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The Bruins got some great play from all over the roster. Even guys like Sean Kuraly were scoring goals. If everyone keeps producing Boston will be a tough team to beat.
Columbus is definitely not a pushover though. They swept one of the best teams in recent NHL history. You don’t do that by simply being lucky. The Blue Jackets have some quality goal scorers and a great goaltender.
Still, I believe in the Bruins. They are the better team. Boston dominated the Blue Jackets. They outscored Columbus 12-10 and defeated them in their last two meetings.
But the playoffs are a completely different animal. Anything can happen. It’s not every day that you see a No.1 seed who had one of the best seasons in NHL history fall apart in the playoffs.
So if the Boston Bruins want to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals they will need to be on top of their game. Here are the 3 keys for the B’s in the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
1. Bring the pain
This seems to be a reoccurring theme for the Boston Bruins. When the B’s have a physical style of play, they tend to do well.
The Toronto Maple Leafs were a fast team. The only chance the Bruins had of stopping them was by beating them up. A battle of speed is a battle that the Bruins will lose.
This is exactly what the Blue Jackets did to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Columbus Blue Jackets beat them up and the Tampa Bay Lightning had no idea what to do.
Boston is well equipped for this style of play so the Blue Jackets will have to think of something else. If this series becomes a brawl the Bruins will come out on top.
If the Boston Bruins are able to be physical and take out stars like Artemi Panarin, Boston will be successful and move on to the Eastern Conference Finals.
2. Break down Bobrovsky
One of the Columbus Blue Jackets best players is their goaltender. If Boston wants to win they are going to have to make Sergei Bobrovsky work.
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So far in the postseason Bobrovsky has a goals against average of 2.01 and a save percentage of .932. Scoring on Bobrovsky is no easy task.
The key for the Bruins will be peppering Bobrovsky with shots and hoping that a rebound will bounce their way. Bobrovsky loves to sprawl and make some highlight reel saves but if he is unable to control the puck this can leave the net open.
If the Boston Bruins can get some quality offensive zone time and make Bobrovsky work they can wear down the goaltender and hopefully light the lamp.
If Bobrovsky plays like the Vezina winner he is the Bruins will have a tough challenge ahead of them. Hopefully the 1st line will help lead the Bruins to victory.
3. Tuukka time continues
The Columbus Blue Jackets may have Sergei Bobrovsky, but the Boston Bruins have Tuukka Rask and so far the goaltender has played great in the playoffs.
Rask has done everything the team has asked of him. He has kept the Bruins in games and made some incredible saves as well.
If the Boston Bruins want to move on they are going to need Tuukka Rask to continue to perform well. If I had to guess these are going to be some pretty low scoring games. If Rask let’s up one easy goal that could change the course of the series.
I expect Rask to continue to play well. He must be riding high after his performance in Game 7 where he stood on his head. Rask stopped 32 shots and was so good that no one could really hate on the guy (that is a first).
The Boston Bruins kick off the series Thursday night and hopefully by the end of the night they will have a 1-0 lead on the Columbus Blue Jackets.