Boston Bruins: Which players will be returning to the Stanley Cup Final?

As the Boston Bruins prepare to finally go to war tonight for the Stanley Cup against the St. Louis Blues, they come off of ten days of rest and have plenty of inexperienced players when it comes to the Cup Final.

However, with their five most important players all having experience in the Stanley Cup Final – the Boston Bruins surely are well set for having success.

Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Brad Marchand, and Tuukka Rask all carry the experience that gives them a huge advantage over the Blues which can go a long way into deciding this. With the captain Zdeno lifting up the Stanley Cup for the Boston Bruins in 2011, you know he will do anything possible to do that again.

While ten days off can be scary for a lot of teams, the rest can only be great for the captain especially after he missed Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

While the haters can say what they want about ‘Big Z’; without him, the Boston Bruins cannot win the Stanley Cup. His leadership and experience are sure to lead the way, along with the longtime heart and soul of the team, Patrice Bergeron.

The amount of love that Boston has for Bergeron doesn’t need to be said, but his experience in both Stanley Cup Final appearances in 2011 and 2013 will certainly go a long way into him and his line getting it done when it matters the most.

In 13 games in the Final, Bergeron had nine total points, racking up six goals and three assists. If there are Stanley Cup Final veterans on this team to not worry about, you know it will be the two Boston Bruins’ leaders of the past decade.

David Krejci and Brad Marchand have both been with the Boston Bruins for a long time. They were both key parts of the 2011 and 2013 teams – Krejci’s playoff heroics have been brought up in the past, as he has performed incredibly well in the playoffs when it comes to recording points.

In the series with Vancouver, Krejci totaled six points. In the Chicago series, he put up five in six games. Krejci has performed well in the playoffs all post-season long, and now there is hope that he can continue.

Believe it or not, Brad Marchand has the complete opposite types of Stanley Cup Final performances. In the Vancouver series, Marchand had his coming out party of sorts.

He recorded seven total points, notching five goals and two assists. Despite that, in the Chicago series he had zero points in the six games which came as a true shock. As the highest scorer remaining in the playoffs, Marchand will have to up that total for the Bruins to go home with the Cup.

And finally, Tuukka Rask; Rask was the support for Tim Thomas in his marvellous 2011 season. In 2013, Rask was on the losing end along with the Bruins against the Chicago Blackhawks. He posted a 0.932 save percentage and a 2.67 goals against average. While neither stat is bad in any respect, it showed to not be good enough.

He has been the MVP of the playoffs this time around and with prior experience to learn from, Tuukka looks to be get it done this time around in hopes of holding up the Stanley Cup as a starter.

Will these experienced five prove to be the advantage the Boston Bruins need to lift Lord Stanley’s Cup above their head?

We will certainly see. Let’s go Bruins!