Zolak & Bertrand: Are the Bruins legitimate Cup contenders?

The NHL trade deadline is approaching and the Bruins notched yet another big win on Monday night, taking down the Western Conference leading Winnipeg Jets at the TD Garden. Despite the retirement of team leaders Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci last offseason, this team has maintained it's torrid pace with Jim Montgomery at the helm. With the string of great play comes plenty of questions. at the top of that list of questions is whether or not this team is an actual Stanley Cup contender. Zolak and Bertrand debate whether we should once again buy into what the Bruins are selling, and whether they are worth investing in at the upcoming trade deadline:

Beetle: Okay, so this begs another question. Do people believe they're a legitimate Cup contender? Don't feel that way.

Zolak: You mentioned the pace. They're not gonna keep this pace up.

Beetle: It's the end of January! In November, it's a nice story. By the time you get to almost February, you're like, oh, well, this is not slowing down. How do they like, how do they view them internally? Do they believe that this team's capable of going on a run and competing when it is more physical? When you get to that time of year where they have struggled like they did last season. Hate to bring it up. Hate to tell you about it. But they played a more physical team last year and they paid a price for it. Are they prepared for that this time around? What's different? What's so different about this team?

T-Bone: I think you're going to find out a lot about this team in the current stretch they have coming up. They got the Hurricanes, the Flyers, Canucks who are just like the Jets at the top of the Western Conference. You're gonna find out a lot about them. You're going to find out about their goalie rotation. See who plays what games.

An eight-game point streak for the Bruins has come with plenty of heroes and high-quality wins alike.

From a nine-goal outing against the Canadiens to what was perhaps the best win of the season against the Avalanche last Thursday, and countless third-period lockdowns (a staple of their success a year ago), there's been little for Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery to complain about when it comes to his team's work ethic and results. And on Monday, that train kept on rolling, as the Bruins pushed that point streak to nine games (6-0-3) and toppled the Central-best Jets by a 4-1 final.

It was an effort that included a bit of revenge on the mind of the B's skaters following last month's head-to-head between these teams, which was dominated by the Jets in what finished as a 5-1 victory in their barn.

"They embarrassed us the last time we were in Winnipeg," Montgomery noted after the win. "We have a lot of proud guys that represent the Bruins for a long time in a real good way. I think the opportunity to get back at them was something that was motivating today. I think it's just part of the culture here. We want to try to win or split every series against the West. It's big. You're always gaining points on somebody that way."

Boston's victory, which was solidified by a Brad Marchand empty-net strike with 55 seconds remaining in the third period, also put an end to what was an impressive streak for Winnipeg, as it marked the first time in 35 games that the Jets had allowed more than three games in a contest.

Here are the 98.5 The Sports Hub (dot com) 3 Stars from a win at TD Garden...

The promotion to Boston's third line has certainly paid off for Jakub Lauko and the Bruins.

Skating in his third game to the left of Trent Frederic and Morgan Geekie, Lauko kicked off the scoring for the Bruins in this one with a first-period burial through Connor Hellebuyck at the 2:20 mark of the game. The goal came on what was a monstrous shift from the B's new-look third line, and with Lauko making a pair of quick-hand, puck plays to keep the puck in the high-danger area of Winnipeg's zone.

With the goal, Lauko also pushed his point streak up to three games, with two goals and a helper since Montgomery elevated him up to the third line last Thursday against the Avalanche.

Another big play from Lauko in this one: With the Bruins clinging to their one-goal lead (and with the Jets making a strong push), Lauko was at the end of his shift but saw a 50-50 puck at the red line. He immediately jumped into the fray and got inside positioning on the puck, and helped draw a penalty. With under eight minutes to go in regulation, that penalty drawn by Lauko absolutely stalled the Jets' momentum, even if the Bruins didn't make 'em pay with what would've been a knockout punch of a power-play strike.

It feels safe to say that Morgan Geekie has officially found his footing with his new team.

And Monday was yet another step forward in that respect, with Geekie on the board with an assist, a plus-2 rating, and a team-high six hits in 13:55 of time on ice. (Geekie originally finished this game with two assists, but it appears that the scorers took one apple away from him in the final sheet.)

But Geekie's lone assist in this one was a big one, as he drove towards the net for the first of two shorthanded looks, with the second buried by the Bruins' Jake DeBrusk for the dagger of a goal that made it a two-goal game late in the third period of action.

Overall, Geekie is now up to 23 points on the year, and is just five away from matching his career-high set in what was a breakout season with the Kraken last season.

Through 40 minutes of action, Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman was sitting pretty.

Sure, he had to make a couple of splitting saves, including a left pad save made by what appeared to be the damn ankle of his pillows, but the Bruins had yet to surrender what classified as a 'high-danger scoring chance' and the Bruins limited the scoring chances to just 12 against over a 40-minute sample.

But in the third, the Jets came out flying, and Swayman had to be (and was) on top of his game.

Peppered for 11 shots in the third period (more than what he faced in the first two periods combined), Swayman turned aside all 11 shots, and had a pair of tremendous in-tight saves to the right of his goal.

With the victory, Swayman has now rattled off victories in four straight, and has stopped all but six of the 107 shots he's faced over that four-game sample (a .944 save percentage).