This can't be right, can it?

Lost amidst all the year-round Red Sox hysteria, breathless Patriots coverage (as ESPN's bottom line has dubbed it, Pursuit of Perfection) and the Celtics amazing start, the Boston Bruins are currently the No. 2 team in the Eastern Conference and they have the third best record in the entire league. Saying they are under the radar is a severe understatement. I love hockey but the NHL is just barely above WNBA and MLS in terms of excitement (other than the NHL playoffs which are great).

I won't lie and say I've watched every Bruins game or been to a bunch of games at the Garden. Rather, what I've seen of the Bruins has happened while other more important contests/shows are on commercial breaks. Boston is 17-10-3 (overtime losses) after last night's 5-3 win at Atlanta. What makes this season so surprising so far for the B's is that the free agent goalie they brought in (Manny Fernandez) has predictably been a flop and is now out for the rest of the season with a knee injury. Backup goalies Tim Thomas and most recently Alex Auld (acquired from Pheonix) have played very well for the most part. Monster defenseman Zdeno Chara, who had a disappointing first season in the Hub has played well this year, notching four goals and 14 assists while sporting a plus-minus of nine.

The Bruins franchise player is 22-year-old center Patrice Bergeron, who has been out since mid-October with a nasty concussion. His status is really up in the air, the Bruins understandably are cautious with their offensive star and therefore he might not even see the ice again in a game this season. In his absence, center Marc Savard has been superb. Savard has 36 points and his 29 assists lead the NHL. Winger Chuck Kobesaw (a former BC standout) leads the team with 12 goals while center P.J. Axelsson leads Boston with plus-minus of 11.

So what does this all mean? Nothing really at the moment. The NHL is dangerously close to doing something drastic (moving all the teams to Canada or folding) since it's not even considered the fourth most popular sports in the States anymore. The Bruins have been awful the last two years and in their last two trips into the playoffs, they've choked in the first round. Their best hope is that once the Pats season is over and before the Sox have started the regular season, they can steal a little of the spotlight. The Celtics are definitely going into the playoffs so the Bruins need to follow suit or else this great start will mean nothing as the NHL quickly fades from the local sports scene.