Time Out for Sports Talk: Opportunity Lost As Bruins’ Season Ends
Todd: Get the golf bags ready – after seven long and grueling games, the Boston Bruins will not be Stanley Cup champions!
I suppose that remark came off as classless as the Montreal Canadiens and their fans are perceived to be, not to mention that the pain from the metaphorical kick to the groin suffered last night is still fresh. But for the Bruins to come out in a winner-take-all Game 7 on their home ice in front of a packed house waiting to erupt in celebration and wind up laying the egg that they did, I think some harsh criticism is more than warranted.
What happened to the Black and Gold after they seemingly took control of this series back in Game 5? Did the Canadiens use Shawn Thornton’s ‘clumsiness’ with his water bottle as motivation during the final two games, claiming that they were disrespected by the Bruins throughout the series?
Perhaps it’s only a coincidence that Montreal outscored Boston 7-1 in Games 6 and 7 after P.K. Subban was sprayed in the face with that water. But what is no coincidence is that the Canadiens were unintimidated by the Bruins’ physical style of play. Fact is, they wound up dictating the tempo of the series, possessing two-goal leads in five of the seven games.
Playing from behind was not a spot the Bruins found themselves regularly in throughout this season, and it certainly had them looking out of sync for most of the series. As a result, they played less aggressively for long stretches and committed more penalties.
I mentioned in our series preview that Montreal’s ability to draw penalties and special teams could play a factor, and it proved to be the case as the Habs were an astounding 8-for-25 on the power play after going just 2-for-13 against Tampa Bay. Conversely, the Bruins were just 3-for-18 with the man advantage and appeared to be spending more time passing the puck rather than shooting it on net.
Another matchup the Bruins lost was top-line scoring. Thomas Vanek did his usual damage against the B’s, scoring four goals (two in Game 6), and top sniper Max Pacioretty—held scoreless the first give games of the series—came up with tallies in both Games 6 and 7, dominating Boston’s top line of Milan Lucic, Jarome Iginla and David Krejci. In particular, Krejci didn’t score a single goal in the playoffs (neither did second liner Brad Marchand), and Lucic could only muster two shots on goal over the final three games while taking out his frustrations on the Habs during the postgame handshake.
Looking at the play of the defensemen, P.K. Subban had four goals in the series while displaying a lot of class (say what you want, but if Subban played for the B’s he’d be a fan favorite). For the Bruins, the absence of Dennis Seidenberg finally caught up with them, as the play of the younger blueliners was inconsistent and Zdeno Chara appeared to be running on exhaust fumes at the end.
In addition to the B’s getting outplayed, they lacked any ‘puck luck’, hitting the goal post thirteen times. If just a handful of those shots were a few inches to the left or right the series might have played out differently, despite Boston’s shortcomings. Instead, the curse of the President’s Trophy winner continues.
Well Mike, the NHL does still have their Original Six path to the Cup. But unfortunately it won’t involve the Bruins, who now begin their summer much earlier than expected and are left to wonder what might have been.
Mike: I have been a Bruins fan since the 1970s (yup, showing my age) and I remember the horror shows against Montreal during the 70s and 80s. (Quick aside, I was present for a rare glimmer of light in 1988 as I was in the Montreal Forum to see the Bruins eliminate the Canadiens from the playoffs for the first time in 44 years--still a highlight of my sports-watching days).
But recent history had shown that the Bruins had seemed to get over that hump, that the dreaded "Montreal Curse" had gone the way of the venerable old Forum, seeing as the Bruins had started to beat the Habs in the playoffs on a regular basis.
But that wasn't the case this season. The last two games of this series felt like the bad old days of the 70s and 80s as the Bruins just looked horrible. Boston looked like they had a firm grip on the series after winning a stirring Game 5, but when things shifted back to Montreal, all of the urgency was gone.
I'm not going to blame Thornton's "Watergate" incident for the turnaround, it was just a silly, stupid thing, and if that led to a loss, well then the Bruins didn't deserve to be there anyway.
No, Boston was simply outplayed by Montreal in games 6 and 7. Carey Price was fantastic in net, and while Tuukka Rask was good as well, he was just enough below Price to stop the Bruins from getting over the top.
Game 7 was as frustrating of an experience as I've had as a sports fan in a long time. The crowd was pumped as the game began, and you figured that the team would build off that energy, but they didn't. Instead, Boston went almost seven minutes without a shot, and Montreal caught the defense napping for an early goal, putting the Bruins in a hole that they could never dig themselves out of.
So, another promising season ends sooner than expected.
Oh well, at least we've got the Red Sox...
That's got to be a good thing....doesn't it?
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