What the Bruins have to say about the meeting with their former Cup winners

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June 15, 2011. A day that lives in the tradition of the Bruins.

There are only five members of this Stanley Cup team in 2019: Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Krejci and Tuukka Rask. Steven Kampfer also served as an additional defenseman in the historic Bruins race that became the first team to win three games in the seventh game in one game.

The other members come and go since they raised the first Boston Cup in 39 years in Vancouver. But the team remains forever in the hearts of Bruins fans.

A handful of members of this reputable 2011 formation returned to the TD Garden on Monday night, assuming the role of Fan Banner Captain before the current Bruins core took the ice with the St. Louis Blues. Shawn Thornton, Andrew Ference, Chris Kelly, Michael Ryder, Rich Peverley, Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell and Dennis Seidenberg demolished the house while they attended special Olympian Liam O 'Brien at the festivities of #################################################################################### 39, pre-match, bringing together 17,565 spectators on their feet before the puck.

"It's always fun to see these guys," Marchand said of the meeting with his former teammates present. "There is a connection with many memories that we had and on which we can come back and many friendships. So it was good to see them.

The 2011 team set the barometer of Boston's decade of success. A return to the Stanley Cup Final in 2013 and now in 2019 has once again made the city a favorite spot for pucks.

Many things have changed since then. Bruce Cassidy replaced Claude Julien behind the bench in 2017. Don Sweeney succeeded Peter Chiarelli as General Manager two years earlier. The Bruins abandoned their old icy digs at the Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington and installed themselves at the cutting edge of technology, the Warrior Ice Arena, in the fall of 2016. And these are Ryder, Peverley, Straw, Kelly, Thornton , Campbell and Seiden who paved the way. way for a youth movement that has accelerated the window of the Boston Cup.

They are a different team now. But there are some similarities eight years later. Notably: a refurbished fourth row of Sean Kuraly, Joakim Nordstrom and Chris Wagner or Noel Acciari.

"If you go back in 2011, this line has been huge for us all year, and even in playoffs," Bergeron said of the comparison of this year's fourth-line trio with Paille, Campbell and Thornton ( alias "Merlot Line")

"They came and scored huge goals for us and gave us a momentum that we needed sometimes during games, and I think that's a fair comparison when we look at Sean and his line and what's going on." They have been able to do night and night and intensify, you know, in great moments, they have been doing it since the beginning of the year and continue to show up for us. "

Straw, Campbell, Thornton and the rest of their ex-teammates saw the Kuraly line win over the Blues in Game 1. The former Bruins went to the locker room for a post-game encounter with their teammates. former teammates with the team eight years later.

"It was good to see them after the game, which is nice," said Marchand. "It's not often that you get so many guys on the team after that long time. So it was great to catch up and see them. And the victory allowed us to do it. If we had lost, we might not have had that moment. "

The reunion was not lost with some of the youngest Bruins, like Jake DeBrusk.

"For sure, this is something you are looking for and obviously we are in the current situation," said DeBrusk. "But every time you see guys, you know, the relationships they have to date are fraternity, and that's what happens when you win, and that gives you a little more motivation."

The Bruins showed their motivation by returning from a two goal deficit on Monday night. Now they have three wins to win their own Cup – and join this special group of former Bruins – to end the decade.

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