Take a deep breath Bruins nation, the bad man Bobrovsky is all gone now. That wasn’t easy. Sergei Bobrovsky made more ridiculous saves in one series than I’ve seen since Tim Thomas’ 2011 Stanley Cup performance. Tuukka Rask was just better. Knowing John Tortorella, he could care less how he looks after both guaranteeing a game 7, and claiming they’d “dented” Rask. But if I were Torts, I might be a little cautious about making guarantees of any sort… ever.

Looking forward to Carolina, we need to address their obvious question marks: goaltending, and injuries, which unfortunately go hand-in-hand. Petr Mrazek looked like he was going to be the star of the playoffs for the Canes, until he went down with a non-contact injury, which are almost always cause for extreme concern. Unless of course you are in fact the Caroline Hurricanes in which case you need not worry as you have 35 year-old Curtis McElhinney. McElhinney’s performance, I believe, is what propelled Carolina into the second round after his performance once Mrazek went down. That moment could have completely turned around the series for the Islanders had they been able to pounce on the opportunity to face a cold goaltender who had only seen the postseason twice before. This begs the question though, as the pressure mounts and he steps into uncharted territory of a conference final, will McElhinney’s head remain level? Or will the Bruins’ experience at this stage end Carolina’s cinderella story?

Carolina is a fast team, arguably one of the fastest in the league, but Boston has proved it can hang with speed. Like Toronto and Columbus, if the B’s can stifle the Canes transition game through the neutral zone, they will heavily frustrate their offense like they did nearly to perfection against Columbus in games 5 and 6.

The key to the Bruins success, in my eyes, has been composure. There have been countless moments in the first two rounds where Boston could have easily cracked under frustration of bad goals, reversed calls, overturned calls, facing a hot goaltender, you name it. But the Bruins did exactly the opposite. They remained calm, and found ways to produce. When the top line went cold, the third and fourth lines got hot. When their goals were overturned, they regrouped and scored again leaving little controversy the second time around. The best teams aren’t always the most skilled; what makes them the best teams is they find ways to win no matter what the circumstances.

 

Prediction: Bruins in 5
My predictions thus far: 1/2

 

P.S. The Bruins will likely be without Charlie McAvoy for game 1 for his hit on Josh Anderson. For those wondering, oddly enough in the rule book, there is no major or match penalty for a hit to the head, hence why he was only given a minor penalty, and exactly why he’s having a hearing.

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