Bruins get tough draw with Red Wings

There's a common theme starting to appear on line. I keep reading how the Boston Bruins don't match-up well against the Detroit Red Wings, because they're a fast skating team. It's true, the Red Wings won 3-of-4 games during the regular season. As a Bruins fan, the match-up with the Red Wings and the Montreal Canadiens are the least attractive to me.

@Real_ESPNLeBrun -- If I had to pick a Cup champion right now, I'd go with the Bruins, especially because the East should be a more navigable journey compared to the contender-deep West. Yet I'm sure Bruins fans aren't exactly overjoyed their team drew the dangerous Red Wings in the opening round, a team that beat Boston three out of four games this season. I'm still picking Boston to prevail, but the matchup proves yet again that there's no such thing as a layup in the salary-cap era. All 16 teams that made the postseason have a shot.

History tells us that the Boston Bruins haven't done very well against the Montreal Canadiens. Boston had a 1-2-1 record against the Habs this past season. That's a fact that well documented. So what did the Habs do, they added former Buffalo Sabres forward Thomas Vanek, a known Bruins killer at the NHL trade deadline. Bruins fans are hoping that the Tampa Bay Lightning knock the Habs out during the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

During his NHL career, Thomas Vanek has scored 62 points, including 30 goals, against the Bruins, far and away the most against any opponent he has faced. Vanek is really hot right now, finally breaking out with his new team by scoring a hat trick against the Colorado Avalanche (Mark Wallace Graham, Hockey Writers)

The Bruins have a 2-5-2 record against the Red Wings and the Habs. Now, here’s the good news, the Boston Bruins have 15-1-0 record against the rest of the eastern teams in the playoffs. I know it sounds cliché, but anything can happen during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.