Bruins Favorites To Repeat

Bruins Favorites to Repeat

 Using simulations and mathematical formulas, the website www.sportsclubstats.com has the Bruins as frontrunners to win the Stanley Cup.  The Bruins, according to sports club stats, has a 23% chance of winning another championship and a 100% chance of making the playoffs.

This comes as a surprise to most NHL fans seeing that the Bruins have the 6^th most points in the league and haven’t won consecutive games since the All-Star break. Not only that, the Eastern Conference leading New York Rangers were given just a 18.7% chance to win the Cup; 4.3% behind the Bruins. Boston has hit a bit of a rough patch as of late, playing .500 hockey since January 29^th. They have key injuries to key players like first line forward Nathan Horton and third line forward Rich Peverley.

However, there may be some truth to the websites claim that the B’s will hoist the Cup again this season. For starters, the Bruins hit a similar tough stretch in their championship run last year and were able to rally in March and April to get the pieces together for a deep run in the playoffs. At this point last year the Bruins weren’t even winning their division and finished the season with the third seed in the Eastern Conference. Boston is on pace to finished second in the conference this season and have much fewer question marks than a year ago. Going into the playoffs last year the B’s were a team that hadn’t proved they could win in the playoffs, having blown a three games to none lead the year before to the Flyers. However they got hot at the right time and combined with a few lucky bounces they were able to win their first championship since 1972. This version of the Bruins has a very similar roster as last year when they proved to everyone that they were a force to be reckoned with. So although it was a shock to see the Bruins as favorites this season, the math produced by www.sportsclubstats.com has some common sense behind it.

http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NHL.html

http://espn.go.com/nhl/powerrankings

http://espn.go.com/nhl/standings/_/group/2