Until recently it wasn’t a question worth asking, unless you enjoy getting laughed out of the room with the door locked behind you.

Now it must be asked: Can the Bruins win the Stanley Cup?

You better believe they can because they’re playing as if they believe, and it doesn’t feel like they’re just on a hot streak.

In the eyes of some, the Bruins needed to execute a blockbuster at the trading deadline to be taken seriously. Instead they acquired solid forwards in Charlie Coyle and Marcus Johansson to fill the need for more scoring.

OK, fair point, but it doesn’t address a far more significant development that has boosted the Bruins’ energy and confidence.

Acquiring a proven performer with a big name at the trading deadline emboldens any team in any sport but tends not to have the same effect as a young talent playing in a way that makes everyone else feel younger. It’s been that way forever.

Think: Bruins left winger Jake DeBrusk. He’s been on the roster all season, but has transformed from inconsistent young talent to absolute monster.

In the past nine games, DeBrusk has seven goals and six assists. The way he was so under control in redirecting a puck in the air to Patrice Bergeron, who fed Brad Marchand for a power-play goal Saturday in a 1-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils was a thing of beauty.

Something about young players coming of age makes teammates and fans in the stands rejoice with extra gusto.

Veterans view the emergence of a young talent not only as someone lending the team what was lacking, but also as someone who needs their steadying influence. They get what they need and at the same time feel needed, always an ideal mix for the chemistry of a team blending youth and experience.

David Krejci, 32, wouldn’t be at his best without DeBrusk, 22, finishing what he starts, and DeBrusk wouldn’t be everything he’s become without Krejci setting him up.

The problem with writing off the Bruins’ NHL-best 16 straight games with at least one point as a hot streak that will cool is it ignores that this team has outpaced expectations all season.

Nobody had any right to expect the Bruins to play as well as they did throughout a ridiculous stretch of injuries to defensemen early, just as is the case now without injured forward David Pastrnak.

Sure, there’s a reason it was noted high in game accounts of the Bruins’ 4-1 victory Thursday over the Tampa Bay Lightning that it was Tampa Bay’s third game in four nights. Fatigue was a factor, especially in the third period, but that doesn’t mean the Bruins didn’t get more out of the game than points in the standings. You beat up on the best team in the league, regardless of circumstances, you believe you can beat anybody, anywhere.

Many things will need to fall into line for the Bruins to win their seventh Stanley Cup – Tuukka Rask playing in the postseason as he has since the first day of 2019; the Jaroslav Halak of October and February, not the middle months; plus continued elite play from DeBrusk.

The Bruins need to be at their best to win it all. The Lightning can win it at less than their very best. Back to the original question: Can the Bruins win the Stanley Cup? You better believe they can.

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