by Eric Ahearn
There are a few teams currently fighting for a #7 or #8 seed of their respective conferences that B’s fans should worry about. Although I have a lot of confidence the Bruins will make another strong push come playoff time, some teams make me nervous. Here are two things to fear and look out for:
Hot/Great Goaltending: Ask any team that the Bruins played in last year’s playoffs: a hot goalie can erase a team from the playoffs in a heartbeat. To limit the amount of credit Tim Thomas got, the Bruins rolled three pretty good lines with a great role-playing 4th line. The most recent example of a goalie carrying a team is Jaroslav Halak. He single handedly carried them to series wins over the #1 seed in the Washington Capitals, and the Crosby/Malkin led Penguins (the Canadians were a #8 seed).
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| Charenberg Island |
A Team With Depth: The Bruins are a team built to take away another team’s top line and then pound them with relentless depth. With Chara and Seidenberg, the B’s can quickly eliminate a top line and log 25+ minutes. This means the Bruins can handle a line with Ovechkin of the Capitals, Versteeg and crew from the Panthers, and Parise and crew from New Jersey. The problems come from a team with more than one really good line. If a team can match the Bruins depth on the 2nd and 3rd lines, then another team loaded with front end talent will over power them. Luckily, that may not exist with the emergence of Seguin and the expected return to health of Peverley.
These teams are currently right on the bubble of making the playoffs. And even though there is no guarantee that the Bruins will make the Cup Finals again…let us dare to dream and discuss Western Conference teams as well.
Buffalo Sabres: Luckily for the Bruins, they just beat this team last night. The Sabres are currently on the outside looking in but they are beginning to heat up (7-2-1 in their last 10). More importantly, Ryan Miller is heating up as well. Although he is not seen as a top-3 goaltender anymore, he did take the Olympics by storm in 2010 and is the only goalie to win the Vezina Trophy in the last three years not named Tim Thomas. He has also saved 71 of the last 72 shots the Bruins have thrown at him. Since this is the only Eastern Conference team I fear who currently sits in the 7-12 seeds, it should be easy for the Bruins fans to root against them.
Chicago Blackhawks: Although Crawford in net does not give me a single goose bump, their depth does. With four elite players in Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, and Patrick Sharp up front with Duncan Keith on the back end, I would worry a little bit if they came out of the West. The team is also loaded with experience after winning the cup just two years ago. With four stud forwards, the Blackhawks still create two lines that the top defensemen on the Bruins will have to monitor. Duncan Keith is also quick to jump into the action offensively. The Blackhawks are currently the 6th seed out West and will most likely make the playoffs, but I am trying to be optimistic.
L.A. Kings: Jonathan “too” Quick. Right now the Kings are the 3rd best team in terms of defense. The main reason for such defensive success is star goaltender Jonathan Quick. He anchors the team that has severely struggled to put the puck in the net. I still feel this team has underachieved on the offensive end as Anze Kopitar and Mike Richards are two great center men. Also, Drew Doughty is an immense talent who has not shown his true potential yet this year.
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| Getzlaf and Quick could both do serious damage in the playoffs. |
Anaheim Ducks: Jonas Hiller for the Ducks is a goalie who has had multiple impressive post-seasons. With his consistent style of play and butterfly technique, he can easily steal a series. Further, the Ducks are led by Corey Perry (last year’s lead goal scorer), Teemu Salanne, Ryan Getzlaf, and Bobby Ryan up front. That is quite the offensive power. They also have Visnovsky on the back-end who led all defensemen in points a year ago. Do not sleep on this team.
One counter point a person might make is that you want some of these teams to knock some of the West’s top teams. That is a reasonable point to make and I can see the positive in that line of thinking. My feeling is that I would rather only have three teams out West in Detroit, Nashville, and St. Louis that I am worried about. If we have seven good contending teams out West then that leaves us with a 1:8 chance to catch a good matchup. There are always a ton of upsets in the playoffs. Short term memory shows that seeds 1, 2, 3, and 5 advanced past the first round in both conferences last year. Thinking back an additional year shows that the #7 seeded Flyers defeated the #8 seeded Montreal frogs…I mean Canadians, in the East. In fact, in 2011 the 4, 6, 7, and 8 seeds advanced past the first round. So my hope is to let as many “bad” teams in as possible and keep out deep teams and teams with hot/great goaltenders.
Your Quick Hits:
- The Bruins won two in a row!!!
- With a few good prospects coming up in this year’s NHL draft class, Bruins fans may want to consider cheering for the Canadians. I would rather them have the 6th pick in the draft rather than a top-4.
- Claude Giroux is making a push for the point lead with 7 points in his last 4 games. This may force people to consider him for the Hart Trophy.
- Sidney Crosby may return to action this Sunday against the Bruins. While I see the Penguin brass holding him off at least one more game, there is a possibility Crosby returns to play against Krejci, the man who gave him his last concussion.
- Upcoming blog topics will include playoff discussions and weekly Bruins reports.
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