Why the Boston Bruins are just better then everyone else.

If you have taken a moment and decided to read this article I assume you are a fan of hockey, I would assume a little higher on the fan scale then just casual as well. If this is the case and you consider yourself an educated hockey fan (even an educated Chicago Blackhawk fan), chances are if my digital penmanship do the facts of this article justice, you will likely find yourself agreeing with my conclusions. Lets give it a try.

First of all, allow me to disclose my bias by stating that I cannot stand the Boston Bruins, utterly despise is a soft gentle way in which I would verbally illustrate my feelings towards them. I despise Tim Chiarelli, I despise Claude Julien, I despise Zdeno Chara (not Chair-ah), Brad Marchand, Milan Lucic, heck even that bumbling, raging nonsensical homer of a play by play guy at NESN, Jack Edwards. "GET UP!" All of my hateful biases aside, here is why the Boston Bruins are just better then everyone else.

Organizational depth. As a hockey purest, they are my definition of a hockey team, from the very top, 8 foot 20 Zdeno Chara, to very bottom 3 foot 2 Brad Marchand, and everything and everyone in-between. As the narrative went before the conference finals series versus the Pittsburgh Penguins, they do not have the best players in the world (Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin). There is not anyone on the Bruin roster that can match up with those two skill for skill. But where the Boston Bruins beat many of their opponents is when they match up the guys on the bottom half of the roster, versus their counter parts on the opposing teams 3rd and 4th lines, or bottom pair defenseman. Here is how those lines have looked recently.

Daniel Paille - Chris Kelly - Tyler Seguin

Kaspers Daugavins - Rich Peverly - Shawn Thorton

Torey Krug - Adam McQuaid

(Gregory Campbell lost to injury)

Kind of looks like a stale heal of bread on paper right? I would agree until you put them on the ice in the Stanley Cup playoffs. There is not a single team in the league that can match up their bottom 8 or 9 players on their rosters versus these guys and come out on top. This is what is giving Boston a huge leg up during the playoffs. But this is only going to win you hockey games in May and June if your top 9 roster players are able to hang with, and not lose match ups versus the opposing top 9. Sounds to obvious right? Well here is my theory. I believe Claude Julian is mastering his own 21st century version of the rope-a-dope. A boxing tactic made famous by the great Muhammad Ali in his fight versus George Foreman at the Rumble in the Jungle in 1974. Ali's strategy, and that of the rope-a-dope, is to allow your opponent to "punch himself out", wear out, in other words. Ali took a defensive posture for the first 90% of that fight versus Foreman, betting that he could do a better job of defending against Foreman's attack, rather then standing and trading offensively with the punishing blows of George Foreman. (the Penguins and Blackhawks). The rope-a-dope in my theory is the top 9 players on the Boston Bruin roster. Patrice Bergeron, Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton, Zdeno Chara and the rest of the gang. Can they absorb the best punches from the offensive superstars of the NHL? Crosby, Malkin, Iginla and Neal will tell you they can, and Kane, Toews, Hossa and Sharp are searching deep within themselves today asking the same question. These top end Bruin players have one objective every game, and that's not to let those superstars beat them, it is safe to say that it's been a glowing success through these 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs, as it was well documented, the Penguins managed an unfathomable 2 goals in the 4 game sweep versus Boston, and Chicago has 5 goals through the first 3 here against Boston. Where have those 5 goals come from? Not the elite offensive talent of the Blackhawks, here are the Cut and Dry numbers through 3 games.

Patrick Kane - 0G, 1A - 1 Point

Jonathan Toews - 0G, 0A - 0 Points

Marian Hossa - 0G, 1A - 1 Point (in 2 games)

Patrick Sharp - 1G, 0A - 1 Point

Only 1 goal from your top 4 offensive weapons in the first half of a Stanley Cup finals is rarely going to get the job done, and it's a credit to the defensive rope-a-dope of the star Bruin players.We are sneaking up on the final round of this fight and if and when the Bruins claim their 3rd win, putting them 60 minutes away from their 2nd Stanley Cup in 3 years, I believe the fury of punches they will figuratively and literally throw the way of the Blackhawks will be just to much for what looks like a tired team that has punch itself out through the first 3 rounds of the playoffs, and the first 3 games of this series. 

So as I stated in the preface of this article, there are few teams I enjoy watching suffer more then the Boston Bruins, their fans (some) are insufferable, maybe more so then their players but I'll take a small piece of pride away from writing this article knowing that it is something the likes of Jack Edwards could never do if we were watching my Montreal Canadians steam roll their way towards another Stanley Cup victory. Looks like I will find myself picketing another Brad Marchand Stanley Cup parade this summer in Halifax, I'll be there, rotten tomatoes in hand. Float like a butterfly, sting like a B.