5 reasons why Boston Bruins will win Stanley Cup

The NHL playoffs are upon us, with 16 teams vying for a chance to hoist the greatest trophy in sports: Lord Stanley’s Cup. Here are five reasons why the Boston Bruins will be the team lifting the Cup.

The Boston Bruins (50-20-12) are having an incredible season. They sit in second place in the Eastern Conference with 112 points. They are plus-53 in goal differential and they have done it all while dealing with injuries to just about every player on the roster. Only two Bruins players have played every game this season.

The Bruins staff and players have thrived under the “Next Man Up” mantra this year, and it has thus far been very successful. The roster is full of young talent, relatively unknown players making names for themselves, and the team is succeeding through great play from every line and defensive pairing.

Not only can the Bruins win the Stanley Cup, but several variations of this team could compete for the trophy. Thankfully, the B’s look to be healthy for the second season. Rick Nash and Sean Kuraly are expected to return for game one of the playoffs, and Riley Nash won’t be far behind them.

The old saying that “the playoffs are a completely new season” is more accurate in hockey than it is in any other sport. Any team can win any matchup. Because of this, you could make a legitimate case that every team that makes the postseason could win the Stanley Cup. That being said, the team with the best chance this season is perhaps the Boston Bruins.

5. Goaltending

The Boston Bruins are fortunate enough to have not one, but two starting goalies this season. Long-time starter and 2014 Vezina Trophy winner Tuukka Rask is having yet another stellar season, posting a solid .919 save percentage and 2.33 goals-against average. While still being the clear No. 1, he’s had the advantage of having a starting-caliber goalie back him up all season long.

Anton Khudobin is having his best season as a professional this year. In 31 games, he totes a .913 save percentage and 2.56 goals against average. He’s also had some highlights like this (which might remind you of a previous Bruins goalie who did pretty well for them a few years back):

With the duo of Rask and Khudobin, the Bruins are in a rare position. They could enter the playoffs essentially having two starting goalies. They are in a similar position to national teams playing in World Cup or Olympic events, in that they can switch between goaltenders if either one has a bad outing and expect the same caliber of play from both.

Rask and Khudobin understand this, as well. Both goalies have been accepting of coach Bruce Cassidy’s decisions to ride the hot hand at certain points in the season. Rask had a slow start to the season, giving Khudobin a chance to really prove himself. Bruce Cassidy addressed the mind-set in the locker room in a post game interview (as reported by Conor Ryan of Masslive):

"“Tuukka gets it,” Cassidy added. “Anton has played well. We got a lot of hockey left. It’s not like it’s some permanent move. It’s just a gut decision we’re going with for tomorrow. Tuukka wishes his fellow goaltender well. He wants to win hockey games, he gets it. That’s pretty much the end of the story the way I look at it.”"

This quote is from November and the goaltending situation at the time is hardly relevant today. However, the key part of what Cassidy said is, “He wants to win hockey games, he gets it.” Rask most likely understands this because he was once in a similar situation with Tim Thomas. Thomas was the clear starter, but Rask was easily a starting-caliber goaltender.

In the 2011-12 season, Rask backed up Thomas. He played at a very high level for 23 games of the season. Khudobin has taken on a similar role this season, with a few more games played due to minor injuries to Rask at times this season.

Both goalies are more concerned with helping their team win than they are with personal accolades. This will go a long way if either of them gets hot during the upcoming playoff run. Look for Boston to primarily run with Rask as much as possible, but don’t be surprised if Khudobin is in if Rask struggles.