Sweeney: 'Team's Body of Work Speaks for Itself'

The 2018 Boston Bruins Playoffs are presented by JetBlue
BOSTON - There was no reason for Don Sweeney to hesitate.
As he stood at the lectern on Monday afternoon, the Bruins general manager was asked what his expectations were for his team's upcoming first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The answer was an easy one.

"Expectations? We want to win," Sweeney said bluntly. "We've put ourselves in a position with 15 other teams. We deserve to be here, and hopefully we can continue to move forward. You've got to play your best hockey. The opponent wants to win as badly as you do, so you've got to go out and put forth your best effort to try and get it done. And generally over the course of seven games, the better team wins."
Sweeney believes that, despite a closing stretch that had his team dropping four of their final five games, the Black & Gold are ready for their Original Six showdown. The Bruins, after all, finished with 112 points, the fourth highest total in the NHL this season.
"We won 50 games, and I think the body of work speaks that this team deserves to be where we are, and we focus on Thursday night," said Sweeney, who was speaking from Warrior Ice Arena. "I think every team would recognize that they have areas that they want to clean up. We just want to be playing our best hockey Thursday night.
"And the schedule has probably presented some challenges, but for the most part the whole schedule all throughout the year has presented a lot of challenges for our hockey club, and they've risen to meet each and every one of them for the most part. I think the body of work speaks for itself, so they'll be ready to go."

When the Bruins open up the Playoffs on Thursday night at TD Garden, they could be doing so with up to six rookies on the roster, four of which have never played in the postseason. And it's the contributions of youngsters like Jake DeBrusk, Ryan Donato, Danton Heinen, and Matt Grzlecyk, as well as "seasoned" playoff heroes Charlie McAvoy and Sean Kuraly - combined with the play of Boston's championship core - that have helped propel the Bruins into contending status.
"Those young players deserve a lot of credit for moving along and developing accordingly," said Sweeney. "They got opportunity - we spoke at the beginning of the year that players would get opportunity. It was up to them to take advantage of it, and I think several of those players have done that, and we've benefitted as an organization as a result of that.
"But I've always said all along, I think the core group of our players are the driving influence there, and then we have players that are emerging to hopefully grow into the next core."
For those in that group that have never suited up for a game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it will be a learning experience - but one Sweeney reiterated will be about one thing and one thing only.
"This is winning. This is all about winning. It has [been] from day one," said Sweeney. "That's how you're judged and surveyed this time of year even more so. We talked about [David] Pastrnak last year going through the playoffs for the first time. Yeah, some players are going to go through that. It's about winning."

And that's why the Bruins went full boar through the final month-plus of the regular season, which saw them play 21 games over the final 39 days. While the cushion they built in the standings may have provided Boston with an opportunity to rest some of its lineup, the Black & Gold pushed for the top seed until the Game 82 - and as a result, the touches of mental and physical fatigue that set in over that grueling stretch were, perhaps, contributing factors to the team's recent struggles.
"We always felt March was the daunting part of the schedule, unfortunately," said Sweeney. "We were in a pretty good position, but we were still pushing forward. That's the type of team that we had. They wanted to win. We had the chance right up until the final bell to try keep climbing the standings and meet every challenge. We fell short in that regard, but I think they're ready to look forward and hopefully they'll play their best hockey, because that's what it's going to take."

Nashes, Kuraly Progressing

Sweeney said the hope is that Sean Kuraly (upper-body), Rick Nash (concussion), and Riley Nash (ear laceration), all of whom are back skating, will be ready to go for Game 1.
"They're all working that way…we've got a couple days to practice and see where they all kind of get to," said Sweeney. "Hopefully. Hopefully they'll all be available."

Carlo Update

Sweeney also provided an update on injured defenseman Brandon Carlo, who had surgery last week to repair his fractured left ankle and is expected to miss three to four months. The GM said the surgery was routine and was conducted without issue.
"It went very straightforward, very successful. He's on the road to hopefully the recovery process," said Sweeney. "He was here [at the game on Sunday night]. Doing much better, up and around. Obviously, the recovery is a long one. Surgery went well. We'll miss Brandon, he was a big part of our hockey club."