One more time guys! Boston’s top three forwards Patrice Bergeron37, Brad Marchand34, and David Krejci36, have experienced everything possible together: one Stanley Cup victory, three trips to the finals, seven 100-point regular season seasons, fourteen playoff series wins, and more than two and a half thousand power points scored for three men.
The trio first appeared together in a Boston jersey in the 2009-2010 season, and a year later the world’s most coveted hockey trophy was carried along the streets of Beantown.
Now the last waltz is at hand.
Bergeron was already at the end of his career last summer after the playoff loss to Carolina. Krejci had returned to his homeland, the Czech Republic, a year earlier. However, the orchestra was beaten once more when Bergeron put his stamp on a contract offer worth one year and two and a half million. Krejci also returned with a one-year, million-dollar deal.
After the current season, the contracts of eight Bruins forwards and one defenseman will expire. This list includes, among others, Bergeron, Krejci and another Czech star, David Pastrnak too contracts.
So one more time.
– This is the last waltz, and there is nothing else to talk about. Now we are looking for a memorable ending to a great story, Urheilu’s hockey expert Ismo Lehkonen says.
The spirit of the last waltz has truly emanated throughout the autumn from charged and hungry Boston. The team has stormed to the top of the entire NHL by winning 20 of their first 24 games. On their home ice, they put together an unimaginable fourteen-game winning streak from the beginning of the season and still haven’t lost in regular time at home.
Boston exudes a great charge and a commitment to common values and goals – each of the team’s players seems to want a golden ending to the careers of the three club legends.
– You can see from them that the mission is on. Boston has everything it takes to go all the way, Lehkonen sees.
As usual, Ismo Lehkonen picks up three picks from Boston.
1. Material balance and gameplay
When considering the reasons for Boston’s new arrival, it is difficult to ignore the quality and depth of the player material. The continuation of Bergeron was of course everything for the team, but so was the return of David Krejci from the Czech Republic. Unlike last season, Boston is now putting in place three really high-quality chains capable of producing results – the fourth’s job is to grind.
Marchand-Bergeron-DeBrusk
Zacha-Krejci-Pastrnak
Hall-Coyle-Frederick
Greer-Nosek-Foligno
The composition of Boston’s last matches does not pale in the NHL with this wound for anyone. Pakisto is not as deep in terms of individual skill, but it is also of high quality – there is a duo playing a top season on the bottom floor Charlie McAvoy–Hemp Lindholm as well as a suitably hard-hitting basic broom department.
– They have maximum width in that group. That team could be thrown like that to play in the World Cup, Lehkonen charges hard.
There is an incredible amount of resolving power in the attack tricks listed above. In the first division, Marchand is a 100-point player and Bergeron is one of the best two-way centers in the history of the sport. The second chain is built around the Czechs, of which Pastrnak has the potential to score 50 goals in a season.
Triple chain Taylor Hall is the NHL’s most valuable player four years ago. The skilled and fast-footed winger has scored 92 (37+55) points in 121 games in two and a half years in Boston.
On top of all this, the foursome has already at this point in the season accumulated a total of 26 (11+15) power points.
– There are clear tasks for each of the four courts and even though Nelonen’s task is mainly rough, they have also been able to produce and what’s great, these guys have been rewarded for their successes in game time. Krejci has inspired the other Czechs to play well and putting them together is a great idea for coaching, Lehkonen praises.
The whole is crowned by a high-quality way of playing, which the experienced team implements with real discipline. Boston is a team that moves the puck starting from its own zone with quality, not splashing. The Bruins go to the bottom by playing, as Lehkonen expresses it. It attacks and defends with five players and creates goalscoring chances along with direct attacks, a lot from exploits of the attacking end.
On the other hand, when the game turns in their favor, the whole five comes to the defenders’ aid as a tailwind.
Playing in special situations is also top class. Entering Wednesday, Boston was the second best team in the series in both the over and under power play. If the over and under power games are added together, Boston is the best in the series. Even underpowered, the team puts pressure on bravely and even starts to attack.
2. Culture
It’s hard to talk about Boston without talking about club culture and its impact on the whole. Sometimes it can be difficult to define a winning culture exactly, but when we talk about the Boston Bruins of the 2010s and 2020s, we even talk about the toughest club culture in the entire NHL – if anywhere there is a so-called winning culture, it lives in Boston.
This culture was created in the past years by many defensive giants who had already moved on or ended their careers Zdeno Charan in the manner of. And it’s not okay to forget Even Tuukka Raskia.
– Bergeron’s continuation was an important thing for the culture. Through his status and work, he brings a world of values that every single member of the team follows. It is then reflected in all activities on a daily basis and in every game. That club is rated and role-played to the last, and most importantly, the quality control for everything that is done comes from inside the booth, from the players themselves.
– In Boston, the coach only coaches because that team demands so much from itself. No intermediate changes are allowed, says Lehkonen.
3. Physicality
Lehkonen also talks a lot about Boston’s physicality, even occasional nastiness. It has several rough players in its ranks, starting with the attacking department About Brad Marchand, but also from the defensive end. Although the number one defender, Charlie McAvoy, who operates at a real top level, profiles himself as a modern puck-based number one defender, he also knows how to play hard.
Last week, McAvoy trained Lehkonen’s offspring, the Colorado forward Artturi from Lehko in the first round with the result that the TPS student was injured.
Behind McAvoy, Boston’s defensive equipment is only rough. All in all, Boston is still a team that is rarely fun to play against. It is hardworking and disciplined, but definitely also a group that likes to inflict pain and the factory’s Takuulla offers blow for blow in any situation.
– The opponent’s top guys are dragged there by the thousands, Lehkonen laughs.
– On a general level, their physicality through their skating power and speed and this kind of competitive play is really tough. For example, in that Colorado game, they went all the way in terms of scrambling, without fear of overshoots or ices. How do you respond to that when they do it with the strength of the whole team, Lehkonen asks with a laugh.
Through all of the above, Boston can with good reason be considered not only the clear best team of the autumn season, but also a clear champion candidate. The team seems united, highly motivated and extremely committed. When this is combined with the quality of the players and the culture of winning mentioned above, playing for the championship is realism.