Are The Boston Bruins Legitimate Stanley Cup Contenders?

With the season coming to a quick end and the Boston Bruins currently holding second place in the Atlantic division, the million-dollar question is: Are the Bruins legitimate Stanley Cup contenders?

Despite battling the injury bug all year long, the Bruins have shown time after time resilience and perseverance are the key to finding ways to win games.

After taking a 7-1 beat-down during the first game of the season from the defending Stanley Cup Champions, Washington Capitals, there was doubt right away that this team wasn’t good enough.

Boy, were those doubters wrong.

With literally everybody on the lineup missing action this year due to injury (minus David Krejci) the Bruins have had to make multiple call-ups through out the year and place significant responsibility on such young players.

Notable call-ups early on were Connor Clifton and Jeremy Lauzon coming in and playing solid on the blue line at the professional level.

Also showing they could hang with the “big boys” with solid performances have been forwards Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson, Anders Bjork, Karson Kuhlman and Trent Frederic.

Arguably the most notable youngster looking the most NHL ready out of the bunch, Peter Cehlarik, has seen time on the second line playing along side David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk (while Jake was still healthy) where he has looked most effective.

It hasn’t only been the youngsters stepping up for the B’s through out the season.

The veterans of the big bad bruins have stepped up immensely this year and have been able to accomplish and help the team overcome a lot of adversity.

Noticeable accomplishments the Bruins have been able to pull off this year have included most recently, going 19 straight games without a regulation loss, which ended with a 4-2 loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The streak dated back from January 19th to March 10th.

Another achievement the B’s can feel proud about is going 3-1 during the season series against their rivals, The Toronto Maple Leafs. All though the season series really doesn’t mean much come playoff time, it’s still a very good sign and feeling being able to take three out of the four contest during the season against an opponent you’re almost certain to face come playoff time.

In addition, the Bruins were finally able to snap their 14 game losing streak against the Washington Capitals. The record over their last 15 games is still horrible, but at least it gives the black and gold some faith that they can beat the Caps if they were to faceoff in the playoffs.

The Boston Bruins have shown time after time that they can play with just about anyone and usually find an alternative for slowing down or even shutting down other opponents’ offense. Whether it’s the 4th line creating energy with their physicality or the defense making super stars look nearly invisible, the Bruins seem to always have an answer.

With a healthy squad, and getting big and impactful players back from injury such as leading goal scorer David Pastrnak, Jake DeBrusk, newly acquired Marcus Johansson, Kevan Miller and Matt Grzelcyk, it’ll be tough to stop or slow down the killer B’s.

While sitting 2nd in the division, and currently a top 5 team in the league, the Bruins have to be considered a strong favorite at making a deep cup run and potentially compete for a chance to bring back Lord Stanley back to Beantown.