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( Photo Credit: TSN )


By: Yanni Latzanakis  |  Follow Me On Twitter @yanlatz
The Boston Bruins are absolutely rolling out of the gate for the 2019-2020 season. They currently sit atop the Atlantic Division and have won four straight games after a 5-1 thumping of the San Jose Sharks and even have an eight-game point streak going dating back to the 12th of October. As a result, the Bruins are off to a historic start with no desire of slowing down.
After losing on home ice in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals in June, Bruins and hockey fans were curious to see how the Bruins would come out of the gate. After a long hard-fought season and long series against the Blues, the Bruins had a shorter summer with shorter time to recover from injuries. With virtually an identical team with few departures and additions to the 2019-2020 lineup for Bruce Cassidy’s B’s, they have come out of the gate flying.
The Black ‘N Gold hold a 9-1-2 record as of October 30th which is good for 20 points and the top spot in the Atlantic Division as well as the second spot in the Eastern Conference, one point behind Alex Ovechkin and the 2018 Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals. The Bruins have 11 points in 12 games which give the Bruins the tie for the best 12-game stretch to start a season since the 1929-1930 Bruins. That year, the Bruins made the Stanley Cup Finals but fell to rival Montreal Canadiens.

Part of the strong start has been the outstanding play of the first line consisting of Bergeron, Marchand, and Pastrnak. David Pastrnak has racked up 12 goals and 12 assists for 24 points in just 12 games played. Pastrnak has no doubt been the NHL’s MVP for the month of October and is likely motivated this year, not only because of the way last season ended for the team but more importantly for how Pastrnak missed time due to an off-ice thumb injury that hindered his production late into the season and the playoffs.

His linemates haven’t been too shabby as well with Marchand posting seven goals and 14 assists for 21 points in 12 games and Patrice Bergeron posting five goals and seven assists for 12 points in 12 games.
Tuukka Rask has also been a huge part of the Bruins’ hot start with a 6-0-1 record in seven games played with a 1.52 goals-against average and a .951 save percentage and two shutouts. Him and Jaroslav Halak have been splitting most of the games thus far and the best goaltending tandem in the league is picking up exactly where they left off last year as Jaro is supporting Rask with a 3-1-1 record in five games played.

But Can They Keep It Up?

That is the biggest question. Can the Bruins keep up this incredible play all season? The short answer is probably not. There is always high’s and low’s in the long NHL season but it is certainly an incredible start for the Bruins to rack up points early instead of playing catch up like their division rivals Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Montreal Canadiens who have all had slow starts to the year.

With the Bruins playing into June last season, it was interesting to see how the Bruins would be out of the gate but it has certainly been everything you can ask for as a Bruins fan so far this season. It will be interesting to see if the Bruins can gear up for another long playoff run after last year’s Stanley Cup Final and keep up this incredible start throughout the 2019-2020 season.