After A Terrible Start, The Bruins Are Back In Championship Form

H-Orr-ton (Photo via bruins.nhl.com)

The Bruins ended a whirlwind of an off-season on a high. A summer of hanging out with the Stanley Cup (shirts optional) and celebrating is tough work. And wearing those heavy championship rings can make even a conditioned athlete tired. Boston were suffering from a serious case of cup hangover when the season kicked off. They limped to a 3-7 start in October and many were wondering what happened. Did the loss of Ryder, Kaberle and Reechi have that deep of an impact on this club?

The answer to that is no. The core of this team would make any GM blush: Chara, Seidenberg, Bergeron, Thomas, Rask, Lucic, Seguin....this list can go on forever. The Bruins looked complacent out of the gate, content with sitting atop the league on their newly acquired throne. They did realize that they weren't playing at 100% and were not executing. So they made the appropriate adjustments. When I say adjustments, I mean moving up from the 29th spot overall in the League to 5th...and 2nd overall on the East side.

Since November 1st, the Bruins have dominated the NHL by winning 12 games and losing 1 in overtime. The Bruins played 13 games that month and did not lose one game in regulation time (25 out of a possible 26 points!). During that sweet span, they have outscored their opponents 51-21 for a cool +30 goal differential. In contrast, the Bs had a -4 differential in October. Offense and defense are now back online. Tyler Seguin, who was a healthy scratch for the majority of Boston's playoff run, leads the team with 12 goals and 24 points in 23 games. In addition, Seguin is King of  +/- Land, holding down a +19. You could also say that Boston are the +/- champs at the quarter mark, as they have 5 players in the top 6 (Kelly, Marchand, Chara and Bergeron).

It's impossible to speak on the Bruins success without dropping a few lines about Tim Thomas. The 37 year old Quebec Nordiques draft pick is back to his old ways posting a 1.93 GAA with a stellar .936 save percentage in 17 games. He's on fire and the opposition are still scratching their heads trying to figure him out.

To top it off, it was announced today that the Bs re-upped David Krejci with a 3 year contract where he's pulling down 4 milli per season. Dude was a monster in the playoffs and that's great value for a #1 center.

I predicted that the Bruins would be a top contender in my Eastern Conference preview back in October. With the way they are playing now, they could be the first team to win back to back Stanley Cups since '98. I know that it's very early in the season, but there's no denying that Boston hit their groove and are looking to take out anyone that gets in their way.

-Paqman