Are the Boston Bruins legit 2024 Stanley Cup contenders?

Are the Boston Bruins legit 2024 Stanley Cup contenders?

It’s a Boston Bruins game day and today we’re asking are the Bruins legit Stanley Cup contenders let’s discuss on a brand new episode of Locked on Boston Bruins you’re locked on Bruins your daily podcast on the Boston Bruins part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day what is up Bruins fans and welcome back to the locked on Boston Bruins podcast I’m your host Ian McLaren and this is a Daily Show where we discuss all things spoked beat today is Thursday January 4th and I want to thank you so much for making lockdown Bruins part of your day

Every single day free and available on your favorite podcast app and on YouTube part of the locked on podcast Network you your team every day and today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5

Money line bet that’s 150 bucks if your team wins visit fanduel.com lockon to get started it is a Bruins game day they’re hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight Sydney Crosby well used to be a showdown with Patrice berson two of the great centers in the NHL berson now off being

A hockey Ambassador helping welcome pwhl Boston to the scene last night in a lost to Minnesota unfortunately and Crosby still going strong here uh as his career continues we’ll talk about that game coming up later on in the show first a quick reminder you can find the podcast

On social media at locked NHL Bruins you can find me my dad jokes hockey thoughts ATC McLaren let’s talk with uh beginning with the NHL playoff hope tiers that was published this morning by Greg wasinski of ESPN it’s Thursday it’s a cup check day although I think I might Shuffle

Things around a bit seeing as locked on power rank ings are released on Wednesdays so we’ll discuss those on Thursdays beginning next week but for today we’re going to do a cup check and right now ESPN is ranking the Bruins as true Stanley Cup contenders let’s read what Greg

Washinsky has to say here quote Boston hasn’t gotten enough credit this season as one of the NHL’s surprise teams I completely agree after the shocking playoff exit and retirements of Patrice berson and David Cree along with other lineup defections over the summer no one expected the Bruins to challenge for another president’s

Trophy again exactly what I said the other day and yet there are as the calendar flips to 2024 that’s exactly where they are thanks to the League’s best goal tending and special teams he goes on they did seem to feel those lineup losses earlier this season when their offense sputtered the Bruins still

Aren’t all that threatening at five on five ranking 18th in expected goals per 60 Boston can use an offensive infusion before the trade deadline and some additional help at Center um I I’ll touch on that here in a moment the challenge is that GM Don Sweeney went Allin for last year’s

Juggernaut Boston doesn’t own a draft pick until the fourth round this summer end quote so yes I agree that Boston could use an offensive infusion before the tread deadline another scorer in the top six would be ideal I don’t know about help at Center you have Coyle and zaka

Who have played exceedingly well down the middle uh Morgan geeki has stepped up in that position lately Trent Frederick has been deployed there the last game uh you have John beer Matt ptra coming back from the world juniors I think there’s you know there’s not Star level Talent down the middle but

There is depth there I think a scoring Winger might be more appropriate at this point but again we saw all the additions they made last year and it didn’t amount to a playoff win now now here’s what uh Greg wasinski writes their hopes get lower if quote their

Underlying numbers can’t become a little more Bruins likee lenus alar and Jeremy Swan have helped Boston to 1.98 goals against per 60 Minutes at five on five thanks to their combined 920 team safe percentage which is best in the NHL they’ve covered for a lot of what’s

Happening in front of them where the Bruins are under 50% in expected goals and shot attempts at five on five these are things that never happened in the berser on years they can’t continue to happen if Boston hopes to Hoist the Stanley Cup one year after berson was

Supposed to lift it end quote and yes these numbers are a bit concerning if you’re giving up more shot attempts and the opposition is expected to score more goals again expected goals that’s not the score you can be expected to score five goals based on the shots you put up high

Danger chances shot attempts Etc but if your goal tending is exceptional then those expected goals are stopped because your goalies are that good and that’s what’s been happening for the Boston Bruins so far this season but still true contenders are more dominant possession wise traditionally they have the puck

More than the oppos they’re firing more pucks on net than they’re allowing and they’re generating more High danger chances but the fact is Boston has still the best goal tending tandem in the NHL and that counts for a lot if you use it properly and again last year against the Florida Panthers we

Saw they ran withar perhaps or gave him a bit too much runway should have gone to Jeremy Swan sooner by the time they did not that you can pin game seven on Swan but it shouldn’t have gotten to that point to begin with uh so the key is using that

Tandem as a strength even in the playoffs I think we’ll see if Jim Montgomery leans that way this year um but Boston with a top rated penalty kill a very high rated power play top rated goal attending tandem these things count in the playoffs it can all fall apart in the

Playoffs things can regress in the playoffs as we saw but at the moment the Bruins are a pretty good team and that’s the key word there they play well defensively as a team and a lot of credit goes to Jim Montgomery I haven’t agreed with all of his lineup

Decisions or or game management decision decisions uh but he deserves a lot of credit he also should be thanking his goal tending tandem Don Sweeny also Del deserves a lot of credit for filling up the roster with some of those bargain guys we talked about yesterday who have helped them succeed

Lately now where do the Bruins fit in in terms of other teams what other teams are right up there in terms of true contenders uh we’ll discuss that coming here as the podcast continues sleeper is the place you want to be for all your daily fantasy sports

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And locational availability thank you so much once again for making locked on Bruins part of your daily routine free and available wherever you get podcasts and on YouTube and speaking of of YouTube lockon has recently launched the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel you can get all the latest news

From every League from our local experts go to locked on sports today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel all right so we’ve talked about how the Bruins are top team in terms of goal ending they’re one of the top teams

In terms of uh special teams as well their penalty kill currently ranked second in the NHL their power play is ranked fourth and those are all ingredients that help your team in the playoffs but we all know the majority of the game is played five on five when it

Comes to shot attempt differential the Bruins are at 48.5% at five on five in terms of expected goals the Bruins are uh where are we at here 16th ranked at uh 49.84 so you know not great and if you’re giving up more shot attempts more scoring chances High danger chances the Brewing are

50.64% goals for a lot of these teams are up there Dallas um the top five teams in terms of expected goals for at five on five so far the season the Edmonton Oilers who had a rough start but have come on strong lately the Kings the Hurricanes the Stars Panthers uh the

Devils who have been sunk by goal tending issues this season uh but the Avalanche right up there Predators Penguins golden knights again that doesn’t tell the whole story expected goals doesn’t tell the whole story because it doesn’t translate always to goals in the back of the net when it comes to scoring

Chances uh the Bruins are 16th and they have a rate of 50.7 four so high danger chances scoring chances they are slightly ahead of the opposition at five on five and again that goal tending has been uh a savior they’re second right now with a 9343 save percentage five on five just

Slightly behind the Winnipeg Jets if you look at the standings the Bruins of course first overall still 722 point percentage 52 points and that has to count for something and again it’s remarkable that they’ve been able to do this without Patrice berson David cree and with all these guys having left over

The uh over the off season now there’s no one number that you can point to that would suggest that one team is more of a Stanley Cup Contender than another you can look at points point percentage goal differential uh shot attempt differential was seen as kind of the uh

A marker of the better possession teams in all situations the Bruins are 23rd in that regard in all situations in terms of expected goals the Bruins rank 20th so 4911 but again they have incredible team defense a fantastic penalty kill and that goal tending but the goal tending

Will only carry them as far as the tandem kind of remains intact not a knock on lenus alar no disrespect intended but the last two playoff runs haven’t been especially friendly to him and Jeremy Swan’s come in in a pinch but it was perhaps a little bit of too

Little too late right now they do have League leading safe percentage of 92% at in all situations and if they’re going to succeed if they’re going to be um a true playoff Contender that needs to carry over to the playoffs like we saw with Tim Thomas in the past and tarasque in

2013 and 2019 despite what the haters may say so are they true Stanley Cup contenders I mean their first overall at the moment you can’t say no to that but we all saw what happened last year and we know that anything can happen in the playoffs

Again ESPN they have them as the number one Stanley Cup Contender with a Stanley Cup win probability well not the necessarily the number one uh Contender Colorado is at 7.2% Panthers are at 11.2% Rangers 4.7% if you think about that the field is much more likely to take

It so even if you are have a high Stanley Cup win probability you’re still one of 16 teams and and the higher probability is that another team will win anyways still lots of hockey to be played here in 2024 trade deadline could affect the landscape and uh the Bruins also in

Action tonight and we will preview tonight’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins here as the podcast continues FanDuel is the best place for all your betting needs here in 2024 the NFL regular season is wrapping up but there’s still time to get in on the action with FanDuel America’s number one

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New explore tab the parlay Hub and more all you have to do is visit fandu go.com lockon to get in on the action if you use uh or sorry make a $ five bet and you’ll get 150 in bonus bets and tonight Boston’s over under with the Pittsburgh Penguins is set at

5.5 so you can bet on NHL and NBA over there as well visit fanduel.com lockon to learn more all right Boston Pittsburgh tonight always a fun clash between these two clubs there’s 13 games on the NHL schedule tonight and uh this is the first of three meetings between these

Two teams this season they’ll play again in March and then another game in April the Penguins coming into this one with a 72 and one record over their last 10 they’ve won two in a row four of their last five and the Bruins five2 and three

Over their last 10 uh they have won four in a row here actually the penguins have won yeah three of their past five games now Tristan jari has been in net for most of the games for the Penguins this season although Alex NAD delovic has come on pretty strong lately so he might

Be in net tonight they’re LED in scoring not by Sydney Crosby not by ofgy Malin but by Jake gensel who has 17 goals and 25 assists for 42 points Crosby malan right up there two3 in scoring and then there’s a pretty big drop off with uh

Brian rust with only 20 points but in 23 games and then former bruan Riley Smith rounding out the top five he’s got 20 points in 36 games Chris leang had a six-point game the other night so he leads them in scoring over their last five with nine points eight assists Jake

Gensel has three goals over that span Boston LED in scoring by David poock over their last five he’s got three goals four assists Marshon with six assists um I don’t believe Matt potra will be back in the lineup tonight he is on his way back from the world juniors

Where Canada lost to czechia in the quarterfinals probably a bit too soon for him to be back in the lineup um might be back for Saturday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald reporting Derek forbort finished skating before practice or before the morning skate

Could be his first time since he went on ltir so uh see when he can get back in the lineup Mason lorai didn’t practice the other day after needing some dental work following game the other night uh the win over uh Columbus so with forbort perhaps

Ready Lura could be back soon in the AHL as could Georgie merkulov with Matt ptra soon returning always fun to watch the Bruins and Penguins play I’m very excited to check out uh tonight’s game and uh you’ll be sure to have a full recap on tomorrow’s fresh episode of Locked on

Boston Bruins because we are part of the locked on podcast Network and we discuss your favorite team every single day uh the Bruins of course on a four-game win streak in uh the previous win over the Columbus Blue Jackets we had uh lenus Omar and net so

Expect Jeremy Swan to be back between the pipes tonight um as yeah the Bruins look to remain redh hot here to begin 2024 thanks so much for taking some time to listen today always appreciate the support uh please do hit me up in the comments on YouTube or on social media

Locked NHL Bruins orc McLaren and we can keep the conversation going there take care of yourselves friends take care of each other kill him with kindness today and we’ll talk to you again here tomorrow on lock on Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins are first overall in the NHL standings on the morning of Jan. 4. But are they legit Stanley Cup contenders?

Don’t let league-leading goaltending and special teams distract from poor possession numbers at 5 on 5, but what will carry more weight come playoff time?

Plus, a preview of tonight’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

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