BRIGHTON, Mass – The Bruins have to be pleased with making the conference final for the first time in six seasons, and with a legit chance to win their second Stanley Cup title in the last decade.
It’s a welcome return to the deeper rounds of the playoffs for a Black and Gold group that made the Final twice in a three year span from 2011-13, and for Cup-winning vets like Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Brad Marchand and Tuukka Rask it’s a chance they weren’t sure they would ever get again.
Certainly the Bruins veteran core group expects to win and that means the Cup is always there as an achievable goal, but they also know that getting this deep into the postseason is a note-worthy accomplishment rather than an annual birthright. And they’re approaching it that way given how long it’s been since they’ve only been a couple of playoff wins away from a legit chance to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup.
“It’s very exciting to be where we’re at. But we can’t get lost in it. We’re only halfway to where we want to be,” said Brad Marchand. “We’ve done what we wanted to accomplish to this point, but we’re not satisfied. We didn’t come into this year saying that we wanted to get to the third round. We want to go the distance. We’re happy with where we’re at, but a long way from where we want to be.”
Certainly it might be their last, best chance to win the Cup given that Chara is slowing down at 42 years old, and that Krejci, Bergeron, Marchand and Rask are all on the wrong side of 30 years old at this point in their stellar careers. But their head coach wasn’t going there given how well they continue to play, and given that youngsters like Torey Krug, Jake DeBrusk, David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy have developed into a younger second tier of support players that are coming into their own as All-Star level players as well.
“We have some older guys that realize that it’s just the way it is. It’s where they are in this stage of their life, and it’s where we are as a team. It’s just a great opportunity,” said Bruce Cassidy. “I’m not going to sit here and talk about when the [Stanley Cup] window closes, when a new one opens up or any of that stuff. But they won eight years, a lot of time has passed and a lot of wear and tear on the body since then. So they know what it takes and they also know that it’s not that easy. I do believe [Tuukka Rask] is embracing [the opportunity] as are five or six other guys.”
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Interestingly enough the Hurricanes are pretty much in the opposite spot headed into Sunday afternoon’s Game 2 at TD Garden. Sure they have a bona fide Game 7 hero in Justin Williams and a few guys like Jordan Staal that have significant playoff experience, but they also have a young, inexperienced group that’s certainly wasn’t expected to be in the conference final when their season started, or when they tiptoed into the playoffs as a wild card entry in the middle of the Metro Division.
For the Canes it could be easy to “get lost in it” and feel like they’ve already hit their accomplishment in taking a massive step getting to the conference final after 10 years without even a playoff-worthy team in Carolina. It remains to be seen if that’s how it’s going to play out, but there’s no questions the expectation and the hunger for another Cup within the Boston room, a feat that would stamp the greatness of Hall of Fame careers for guys like Chara and Bergeron, and validate others like Rask, David Backes and a whole bevy of young players getting invaluable postseason experience that will only further their development.
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