GDHQNHL15_2pg-Boston Bruins 2

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in the 2011 draft. His increased confidence has been evident throughout training camp as his position on the top defensive pairing is locked in. There is a logjam of talented defenders taking up the rest of the rotation. Dennis Seidenberg returns to the team after tearing both his ACL and MCL in a game last December. Johnny Boychuk stepped up big in Seidenberg’s absence, finishing the season in the top ten in plus/minus, a feat shared by four other Boston teammates. Their options for the final defensive pairing are plentiful. Torey Krug will likely man one of the spots. Scrappy fan-favorite Adam McQuaid has bounced back from an injury plagued year and looks poised to have a strong season. But he’ll have to fight off the likes of Kevan Miller, Matt Bartkowski and David Warsofsky, who will all see ice time this year. There’s a good chance that one or more of these defenseman will find themselves in a new sweater come October. There is little doubt about how strong the forwards will be in their own end. Led by Bergeron and Krejci, the Bruins have created a culture where every forward is expected to fight on both ends of the ice. Goaltending A big part of the Bruins defensive success over the last decade can be attributed to their goaltending, and they have one of the best in the NHL once again. Rask won the Vezina Trophy last season, and it was the third time in the last six seasons that the trophy was awarded to a Boston Bruins goalie. Rask led the league in shutouts (7) for the second consecutive season and he was second in save percentage (.930) and 4th in goals against average (2.04). Rask was even better in the playoffs where he lowered his goals against average to 1.99, the lowest among goalies with more than five starts. Last year’s backup, Chad Johnson, signed with the New York Islanders in the offseason. It’ll be up to Swedish goaltender Niklas Svedberg, the 2012-13 AHL Most Outstanding Goaltender, to handle the backup duties. Svedberg has appeared in just on NHL game in his career, a 3-2 OT win over the Predators in which he made 33 saves. Power Play A major goal for the Bruins heading into last season was to improve their power play. They finished the 2012-13 season ranked 26th in the league, scoring on just 14.8 percent of their man advantages. That came on the heels of a dreadful postseason where they scored just two goals in 23 opportunities. Like most of their offense, things were completely different in 2013- 14. The Bruins raised their power-play percentage to 21.7 percent, which was good for third in the NHL. They were even better in the playoffs, converting on 26.5 percent of their chances. Chara used his massive frame to his advantage by firing pucks from the point and scoring ten of his 17 goals with the man advantage. The team also got contributions throughout the lineup. Their 50 power-play goals came from twelve different players, including seven from Bergeron and six from Smith. Penalty Kill With a team full of quality defenders and two-way forwards, it’s no surprise that the Bruins were strong on the penalty kill once again. During the regular season, they killed off 220 of 263 penalties and their 83.7 penalty kill percentage ranked eighth in the NHL and almost all of their penalty killers return this season. Chara and Tuukka Rask Boychuck are the team’s first line of defense along with a rotation of forwards Bergeron, Marchand, Daniel Paille and Chris Kelly. Brian Babineau/NHL/Getty Images The Bruins were even stronger on the penalty kill in the playoff, which was more impressive considering the number of penalties they drew and key injuries to Paille and Kelly. They were short handed 71 times in 22 playoff games, 19 more than any other Eastern Conference team, and they still managed to kill off 88.7 percent of them. A big part of that was the increased play of Krejci and Justin Florek “We take a lot of pride in our penalty kill and so far it’s been working,” said Rask, “It’s a huge thing throughout the season and especially in the playoffs, you need to have good special teams in order to move forward.” Prediction With a great collection of two-way forwards, one of the best defenders in the league and the defending Vezina Trophy winner, the Bruins are the clear-cut favorites in the East. Things should be a bit more difficult than last season, but it’s up to the rest of the conference to play catch up. Scoreboard 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 PLAYOFF FINISH Conf SF Cup Finals Conf QF Stanley Cup Champions Conf SF REGULAR SEASON 54-19-9 28-14-6 49-29-4 46-25-11 39-3-13 POINT TOTAL 117 62 102 103 91 SHOOTOUT RECORD 3-6 4-3 9-3 2-6 10-9 GOALS SCORED 261 131 269 246 206 GOALS ALLOWED 177 109 202 195 200 POWER-PLAY % 21.7 14.8 17.1 16.2 16.6 PENALTY KILL % 83.7 87.1 83.5 82.6 86.4


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