Without a dominant scorer, the Bruins have won with defense and timely offensive contributions from all of their lines. Still, in achieving such, a few players have been truly outstanding.
Leading the league in just about every goaltending category, Tim Thomas deserves to be the first name mentioned in any Bruins MVP conversation. His 29-8-6 record, 1.95 GAA and .940 save percentage serve as evidence of a truly transcendent season without which the Bruins would not be where they are.
Still, Thomas has been receiving a lot of his help from the defense. Zdeno Chara, as always, has been the leader in that endeavor, and he's added 31 points of scoring too.
Unlike years past, however, scoring has not been something that Boston has struggled with. The team ranks fifth in goals per game, despite missing Marc Savard for nearly the entire season. In his absence, David Krejci has emerged as a prolific playmaker with 39 assists in just 57 games, and Patrice Bergeron has led the team in points with 50 thus far. The player who has perhaps made the biggest leap forward, however, is Milan Lucic. After scoring just 34 goals from 2007-10, Lucic has a team-leading 28 this time around.
