Stanley Cup Playoffs 2012: Why the Boston Bruins Won't Repeat as Champions

Sooner or later this spring, the Boston Bruins are all but bound to cross paths with the Pittsburgh Penguins or New York Rangers, who will terminate their bid for a return trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

It’s just that simple. The Pens and the Blueshirts are practically co-chairs of the four-headed monster that is the Atlantic Division and will ultimately verify just how competitive that circuit is.

If Bruins fans want so much as another Prince of Wales Trophy, the best-case scenario would have all of the Eastern Conference’s top four seeds advancing to the second round. After that, Boston would abolish Florida while the Penguins, on the heels of a tough opening round with Philadelphia, drain themselves all the more by unseating the top-dog Rangers.

But even in the event of a battle of black and gold for the conference crown, one cannot bank on a potent Pittsburgh team being too shagged out even after eliminating two divisional rivals. After all, a pair of seven-game epics did not zap last year’s Bruins in their championship bout with Vancouver.

Since winning the title in 2009, the Penguins have not moved beyond the second round. Residual wear-and-tear from back-to-back appearances in the finals likely contributed to their loss against Montreal in 2010, while the absence of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin certainly hindered them against Tampa Bay last spring.

But Crosby has been back from his latest concussion for nearly a month and logged a 6-19-25 scoring transcript over the last 14 games of the regular season. With Pittsburgh’s pilot and the rest of the roster in good health, there is too much talent and determination across Dan Bylsma’s bench for another early fizzle.

For that reason, a slightly more likely scenario that has New York, Boston, Pittsburgh and New Jersey advancing is even less ideal from a New England standpoint. With their peerless offensive depth, superior special teams, decent defense and appetite for redress, the Pens would likely pace themselves to polishing off the Bruins in Game 6 of the conference semifinals at Consol Energy Center.

Otherwise, you are looking at a conference final series with either the same Pittsburgh team or with the Rangers and the ever-stingy Henrik Lundqvist.

Granted, Boston nabbed a much-needed token of conviction in the last installment of its season series with the Blueshirts, winning a 2-1 decision at Madison Square Garden last Sunday. But the Rangers are not about to forget how they managed to win the first three meetings.

For virtually every key quality that has bolstered the Bruins in recent memory, the Penguins and Rangers are just as proficient, if not slightly more so.

In either hypothetical matchup, physicality could be a critical difference-maker. For what it’s worth, the Bruins have six players with triple digits in the hit column, and Benoit Pouliot would also be there had he suited up for more games.

Meanwhile, the Penguins and Rangers each have nine skaters with 100-plus body-checks this season. On Pittsburgh’s end, Kris Letand and Aaron Asham could easily be in that company had they been able to play a full season. Ditto for Stu Bickel, John Mitchell and Anton Stralman with New York.

Not only could that cancel out Boston’s own defensive depth and provide an answer for every offensive line, it could work in tandem with the Bruins’ comparative fatigue from last season and their tumultuous 2011-12 regular season to inevitably wear down the reigning champs.

Boston is hardly ill-equipped to make another deep postseason run, nor are they lacking any of the requisite pieces for a championship that it had last year. Provided the core group stays intact and in good health, it would be less surprising if the Cup returned to New England in 2013, 2014 or 2015 than if it stayed away.

But per the nature of today’s NHL, where repeat titles are virtually out of the question to begin with, and with equally equipped adversaries, 2012 is simply not the next year of the bear.