NHL Playoffs 2012: Boston Bruins Were Perfect Against Stanley Cup Finalists

Now a little more than a month removed from watching their team’s premature playoff exit, Boston Bruins buffs can tune in to the 2012 Stanley Cup finals and take consolation in one solid statistic.

In their two-season series with this year’s finalists from Los Angeles and New Jersey, last year’s champs made a clean, cumulative 6-0 sweep.

The Bruins outscored the Devils 18-8, including a 10-2 rout over two meetings at Newark’s Prudential Center, and only lent them one overtime point in their fourth showdown. And in a rare instance of facing the same Western Conference team twice in a regular season, they blanked the Kings, 3-0, at home and also reaped a 4-2 victory at the Staples Center.

Granted, the shutout at TD Garden on Dec. 13 was the first part of L.A.’s four-game interlude between firing head coach Terry Murray and hiring replacement Darryl Sutter. But when they met again out west on March 24, both teams had their final rosters virtually set and each had high stakes in the homestretch.

Boston’s 4-2 win that night was its third triumph in four games after being temporarily dislodged from first place in the Northeast Division. Coincidentally, the loss ended the Kings’ six-game winning streak and set them back by relegating them from first in the Pacific Division to the bottom of the Western Conference playoff bracket.

Afterwards, with only two weeks remaining in the regular season, Los Angeles went 3-1-3, barely securing the last available playoff spot.

For the Devils, losing two home meetings to the Bruins by an aggregate count of 10-2 within 16 days in January was not unlike Boston’s mortifying home-and-home letdown versus the Detroit Red Wings in February 2011.

A 6-1 loss on Jan. 4 was the worst home setback New Jersey has endured this season, just as an identical 6-1 final at TD Garden on Feb. 11, 2011 was arguably the nadir of last year for the Bruins. The rematch two days later in Detroit, a 4-2 falter, was only an improvement in a negligible mathematical regard.

And recall that, within a week of losing those two games by a 10-3 aggregate and then losing to the Maple Leafs at home, Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli starting making his final tweaks. Soon, at least two appreciable acquisitions came along in the form of Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley and Boston finished February with a 6-0-0 sweep of a road trip.

And four months after the Red Wings had virtually knocked the franchise back into 2006, the Bruins were left standing as champions and conquerors of the Canucks.

Regardless of whether the Devils or Kings claim the next Cup, this year will be Boston’s turn to take at least partial credit for strengthening the eventual champions the harsh way.