Boston Bruins: Sweep a team at your peril this playoffs!

The Boston Bruins have advanced to the Stanley Cup Final; their easiest playoff series wasas certainly the last one against the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Boston Bruins recorded a sweep in the play-offs for the first time in six years. Last time they have managed it; it was in the Eastern Conference Final versus the Pittsburgh Penguins.

So now Tuukka Rask is 8-0 in eight starts in the Eastern Conference Final games with three shutouts. That’s solid and all, but the intriguing question is still left there for the Boston Bruins and their fans. Does the long layoff between two playoff series affect the team in a negative way? Maybe.

Especially, when the Stanley Cup Final is potentially being played until 12th of June. Taking in a note that the Bruins played their last game on May 16, that’s a heck of a time with mostly no hockey. More than 10 days separate Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final in Raleigh and Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden.

During this playoffs, the sweeps have offered us an interesting story. Every team that achieved a sweep lost in the very next round and on the majority of times by another sweep.

The New York Islanders swept the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round, just to get swept by the Carolina Hurricanes in round number two. Then the Carolina Hurricanes got swept by the Boston Bruins the following round. The other team achieving a sweep, the Columbus Blue Jackets, lost in six games in the second round to the Bruins.

From the three teams with a sweep, the Bruins eliminated two of them and another one was swept by the team Boston swept the following round.

The sweeping motion of sweep trains in the Eastern Conference. But there is one important thing – the sweeping teams are 0-3 in their following rounds. And as we mentioned that Eastern Conference Final sweep in 2013, you already know how the Boston Bruins did in the Stanley Cup Final that followed.

In that 2013 Stanley Cup Final, that Game 1 was costly for the Boston Bruins. They had a 2-0 lead and a 3-1 lead in the third period, but inexplicably allowed the Chicago Blackhawks to tie it up. In overtime, the Bruins hit the post numerous times (remember Chara’s post in the second overtime?- I still do), but couldn’t pull out a win out of that game.

When all was said and done, the Boston Bruins lost in six games. They won Game 2 and dominated in Game 3 but the Blackhawks came out with great response in Game 4 to tie it.

Should the Bruins have had a 3-0 series lead by that time? Maybe.

Did it affect them to lose Game 1 after such a long layoff? It sure wasn’t a great start.

The St. Louis Blues are going the distance with the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks already played in two Game 7’s and they will try to force the third one on Tuesday in St. Louis and the Blues have played one game less than San Jose.

One of the best examples of why it doesn’t matter how many games you play before you can win the Cup is the Los Angeles Kings; the Kings lost just two games en-route to the Stanley Cup Final in 2012. Then in 2014, the Kings played three Game 7’s en-route to the Cup Final – they won both of those finals.

There are, of course, positive memories for the Boston Bruins as well.

In 2011, they swept the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round. Then they had a very bad Game 1 of the next round against the Tampa Bay Lightning, eventually recovering and winning Game 7 of that series.

All the way back in 2009, the Pittsburgh Penguins swept the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final and won the Stanley Cup Final. That was the last time the Hurricanes have played a playoff game until this spring; the Boston Bruins will hope to repeat the Penguins’ success from 10 years ago.

In that 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Boston Bruins swept the Montreal Canadiens in the first round, before losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round in seven games. The Bruins won Game 1 but lost the next three. The late push in the series was rather too late.