Kelly/By S. Bradley

Back when it seemingly took him a month to get on the score sheet in the time after he was acquired from Ottawa, it was hard to predict that Chris Kelly would eventually emerge as a fan favorite.

Well there’s no doubt that the most discerning of Boston’s fans know how valuable Kelly has been both during the team’s run to the Stanley Cup championship and during the club’s hot play of late.

For his efforts last week in three Bruins wins, Kelly was voted the Bruin of the Week by readers of TheBruinsBlog.net.

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Even before he started the new week with an assist on the lone goal in Boston’s 1-0 win over Montreal Monday, Kelly was hot with 3-1-4 totals and a plus-5 rating last week. Including Monday’s game, Kelly now has 7-6-13 totals in 18 games on the season. He’s on pace to shatter his previous career-high for points in a season of 38 set in 2006-07.

All the while, Kelly has remained a defensively responsible player with a knack for winning big faceoffs. He’s won 51.3 percent of his draws.

You won’t hear many complaining about the loss of the second-round draft pick Boston sent to the Senators anymore, that’s for sure.