The Bruins fell the Senators last night at Scotiabank Place
by a final of 2 to 1 in overtime. There is no need to freak out. While preseason is good for players
to get loose and learn how to take or throw a hit, it is essentially
meaningless.
No really, just look at how the past two Stanley Cup Champion teams
did in their preseason.
The Blackhawks played in four preseason games before they headed out
to Switzerland to participate in the NHL Premiere Games. They dropped
three of those four games before beating the Minnesota Wild 4-3.
Boston only won their first of five preseason games when they doubled
up the Montréal Canadiens 4 to 2. They went on to lose the next four
including one in a shootout to the Florida Panthers,
While some fans may have been spending the end of September already
throwing their favorite team under the bus, other knew it would be
okay.
Maybe this tanking is not good for spirits but it just might be a new
pattern in Stanley Cup Champions. There are other patterns out there
to look for. There is the "Premiere Game" pattern where, since the
Pittsburgh Penguins played the Ottawa Senators in Sweden in 2008, a
team that opened their season overseas came out on top.
Just as well, the conference the winning team comes from has been
alternating since the 2007-08 season. Western, eastern; western,
eastern.
So will next years champs be a western conference team that opened in
Europe after losing their preseason games? Who knows but it is
certainly something to think about.