“Don’t see anyone close to” the Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins continue to set the standard of excellence with each win of the regular season after reaching 10.^th back-to-back wins, pushing them to a 49-8-5 record. They became the fastest team in NHL history to reach 100 points in 61 games^St game of the season and they are building a 20-point lead in the Atlantic Division.

Now it’s up to NHL historians, prognosticators and analysts to figure out the Boston Bruins’ place in history as they continue their winning streak after enhancing their already deep, dominant lineup with the stunning NHL trade days of Dmitry Orlov, Garnet Hathaway and Tyler Bertuzzi. TSN analyst Craig Button actually referenced Bertuzzis’ former team, the Detroit Red Wings, in an attempt to put the Boston Bruins’ dream season into historical hockey perspective.

Button was referring to the 2002 Stanley Cup champion Red Wings coached by Scotty Bowman, who posted a record of 51-17-10 with 116 points and eventually beat the Carolina Hurricanes in five games to win the Stanley Cup Finals in a lineup filled with Hall of Famers Brendan Shanahan, Sergei Federov, Chris Chelios, and others. Brett Hull, Steve Yzerman, Luc Robitaille, Pavel Datsyuk, Nik Lidstrom and Dominik Hasek.

That’s the kind of greatness he sees in this Boston Bruins group, which may not have nine future Hall of Famers like the Red Wings, but still has at least a few on the Bs who dominate everyone else.

You go back and look at what the Detroit Red Wings did that season when they were so ahead of everyone else all season and then they capped it off with the Stanley Cup,” Button said. That’s how I see the Boston Bruins. What’s really interesting about the Boston Bruins is that they’ve been the best team in the NHL all year and every other team in the East has been trying to catch them.

It’s like the old cartoons about the Coyote and the Roadrunner, where the coyote thought he was going to catch the Roadrunner, and all the teams in the East thought they were going to catch the Roadrunner, and the Boston Bruins said, Well, I don’t think so. You may think you’re close, but the road may run out for you. I don’t see anyone close to the Bruins. I don’t think so at all [Eastern Conference] teams have closed the gap in any way, shape or form. Some teams improved themselves, so did the Boston Bruins.

Button doesn’t see anyone in the East who can challenge the Boston Bruins in the playoffs, though historically they’ve had a tougher time with Carolina lately, and the Ottawa Senators in particular have given them trouble this season. The reigning Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche, according to Buttons, as the only team that can deliver the Black and Gold with its depth and talent.

You’re a team that’s so good and so perfect throughout the roster,” Button said. You have all the elements to succeed in the playoffs. We’re talking playoffs, grind, competitiveness and size, they have all those elements in place.

While it’s great to have national hockey analysts singing the praises of the Boston Bruins, the proof is apparently what happens when the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin after their dominant Regular Series resumes.