The Bruins’ last three games have been what those in the cliché business would call “measuring stick games.” Those, of course, are contests in which a team is able to gauge how good they are based on whether they can hang with their opponent. 

Last week, it was the Maple Leafs, who got off to a surprisingly hot start, and had two games to prove that they could play on the same ice as the defending Stanley Cup champs. The Bruins didn’t give the Leafs the answer they wanted, but they gave them a pretty convincing answer by beating them by three goals twice. 

Monday’s game figured to be far more interesting, as the Penguins have been great both with and without Sidney Crosby this season, but had yet to face a team as hot as the B’s. Similarly, the Bruins had been the NHL’s best team since the start of November, but hadn’t faced a team as strong as Pittsburgh over their 14-game point streak. 

In the end, the Penguins proved to be a worthy opponent for the B’s, but lights out goaltending and contributions on the scoreboard from three different lines extended the streak to 15 (14-0-1), and with a victory over Winnipeg Tuesday, the Bruins (the same ones who were screwed a month ago) will be in first place in the Eastern Conference. 

While that win in Winnipeg is needed to make it official, it’s been made clear over the last month and change that the B’s are the class of the Eastern Conference. The Panthers, who will be in town Wednesday, might be surprisingly legitimate, but two months into the season, you have to wonder if the B’s might find themselves back in the Stanley Cup finals come June. 

BIGGER SNUB FOR THOMAS OR THE NHL?

Two people were named Sports Illustrated’s 2011 Sportman of the Year Monday, and neither of them were Tim Thomas. Is that surprising? Not really. Is it right? Not at all. 

The annual distinction was given to legendary college basketball coaches Mike Krzyzewski and Pat Summitt. It was a lifetime achievement award of sorts for both, as Krzyzewski won his 900th game this year, while Summitt has won 1,075 games in her time at Tennessee. It tells a compelling story for Summitt, as she was diagnosed with early onset dementia this year and decided to keep coaching. 

As anyone who’s been touched by it will tell you, Alzheimer’s is about as wretched a disease as there is, so there’s absolutely no problem here with giving Summitt the award to raise awareness. If that’s the case, the award should have just been given to Summitt. Highlight her bravery and, yes, make it a lifetime achievement award. If SI did that, there would be no eyebrows raised and no argument here. 

Yet they gave it to both Summitt and Krzyzewski, and made it about wins. That’s where the head-scratching begins here, because the last time I checked, Mike Krzyzewski didn’t win all 907 of his games in 2011. 

While it makes sense to honor the two great coaches, it doesn’t exactly make sense to do it over Thomas this year. In SI’s explanation for its choice, writer Alexander Wolff both admits there’s some lifetime achievement award to it, and that the award is “setting the table” for the 2012 Olympics, which Krzyzewski will coach. 

Why bother putting 2011 in the name if it’s being given out for past and future accomplishments? If that’s the case, look for Babe Ruth or Bryce Harper to win 2012 Sportsman of the Year, and for Santana’s “Supernatural” to win a few more Grammys in February.

What Thomas did in 2011 was, from a competitive standpoint, unlike anything any star player in the four major sports accomplished. The Vezina, the Stanley Cup, the Conn Smythe, and a major regular season record (save percentage), made him seem like a shoo-in, but at the end of the day, perhaps Thomas was a victim of the sport he plays. 

Like Keith Foulke missing out on the 2004 World Series MVP, perhaps Thomas lost because the other candidates were more popular. It isn’t often that you see an NHL player win Sportsman of the Year (only three have won since the award came around in 1954), but there hasn’t been a season in recent memory in which a hockey player has been more deserving. 

Thomas doesn’t need a Sportsman of the Year award to be validated as a great professional athlete, but the award would have meant a lot to the game. It would have reignited the debate of where Thomas’ postseason performance ranks all-time. It would have opened non-hockey fans’ eyes to the story of a perceived over-the-hill geezer who stole his job back and put up one of the best seasons of all time for a goaltender in a year in which many expected him to be sitting on the bench.

Instead, Thomas will have to settle with what he has won: That’s two Vezinas, the Conn Smythe and sports’ most coveted team trophy in the Stanley Cup. He might as well not count on getting Sportsman of the Year before he calls it a career, because if his 2011 performance wasn’t enough to win him the award, it’s hard to think any performance will.