With the Bruins now eight wins away from the Stanley Cup, the organization is understandably getting excited about their chances as the top seed remaining in the playoff field.
The Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes will get their series started on Thursday night at TD Garden with Game 1, and the rest of the best-of-seven series will be announced once the Western Conference has been decided following tonight’s Game 7 between the San Jose Sharks and Colorado Avalanche.
But the Bruins know they’ll need to be operating at their highest level against an upstart Canes team that’s already taken out the Washington Capitals and New York Islanders in these Stanley Cup Playoffs. They may not have many, or really any, household names on their Carolina roster, but they have Boston’s full attention two rounds into the postseason.
At this point the Bruins know they are getting close and have their eyes on the prize while not getting satisfied with making it to the Eastern Conference Final.
“[We’re] just looking for the finish line. We’ve got a tough opponent in Carolina. It’s a team that fore-checks really hard. Their D are really active. I think since February they’ve been a team that found a way to start to score some goals,” said Don Sweeney. “Their goaltending was excellent. We’ve got a tough challenge in front of us.
“It’s just the next step. We worry about Game 1 then move on. I think our group overall has an even keel to it. [It’s a] testament to our coaching staff and how well they prepare the players, and of course, to the players themselves.”
Given the grueling, challenging nature of the first couple of rounds against Toronto and Columbus, it will be interesting to see what kind of challenge the Hurricanes provide after admittedly giving the Bruins a hard time in the regular season over the last few years. Pretty much all of their roster has never been this far in the playoffs before aside from veteran forward Justin Williams, and that kind of thing has been a big difference-maker thus far in the postseason for the Black and Gold.
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