On January 28th, the Boston Bruins seemed to be well on their way to picking up another win in their ridiculous regular season campaign over the Florida Panthers. David Pastrnak had scored a go-ahead goal with under a minute left to go in the game, seemingly giving the Bruins a 3-2 win over the Panthers. Instead, Aleksander Barkov scored a tying goal with three seconds left in the third period to force overtime, before Sam Reinhart won it 17 seconds into overtime for Florida.
At the time, it seemed like a simple blip on the radar for the dominant Bruins. But during Game 7, as Boston scored three unanswered goals to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead, this seemingly unimportant regular season game kept on popping into my mind. It felt like Boston was in control as the third period drained down, but it served as a reminder that the Panthers could claw their way back from anything.
Unfortunately for Boston, that obscure regular season loss turned out to be a blueprint for what happened in this Game 7 defeat. Brandon Montour scored a game-tying goal late with less than a minute to go in the third period, before Carter Verhaeghe dealt the final blow to the historic Bruins eight minutes into overtime. And when all was said and done, the Bruins had no one to blame but themselves.
The Bruins can only blame themselves for postseason collapse
No matter how good things felt in the third period of Game 7, as the Bruins dominated most of the action and turned a one-goal deficit into a one-goal lead within five minutes of the action starting, it always felt like the rug was on the verge of getting pulled out from underneath them. They found ways to cough up Games 5 & 6; how would they pull it off in Game 7?
Sure enough, it ended up being in about as crushing of a manner as possible. The Bruins, who simply could not get the puck out of their own zone throughout this series, once again couldn't figure out how to launch the puck down the ice, despite the fact that Florida did not have a goalie in net, and it led directly to Florida's game-tying goal. On the game-winner, the Panthers simply outworked the Bruins for a puck in their own zone before it found Verhaeghe and ended up behind Jeremy Swayman.
Boston nearly overcame Florida, despite the fact they continued to ignore the issues that caused them to lose Games 5 & 6. They committed 18 giveaways, the highest total in any game of the series, and refused to try to clear the puck from their own zone in the center of the ice, even though the Panthers continued to keep pucks in the Bruins zone by pinching in high on the boards every single time. They had been doing this for two straight games now, and nobody on the team seemed to notice.
Switching to Swayman in net was ultimately the right call, but one that ended up being too little too late. Swayman performed admirably in net, and stopped two huge chances earlier in overtime to extend Boston's season for a few more hapless minutes. But it wasn't a situation he should have found himself in, and had he played earlier in this series, the Bruins might not have found themselves in a Game 7 in the first place.
Looking back on the final three games of Boston's season now, you can't help but think of all the missed chances that cost the greatest team in regular season history a chance to extend their postseason run. Brad Marchand had a one-on-one opportunity against Sergei Bobrovsky at the end of Game 5 that was saved. Pastrnak was shut down on a one-on-one himself in Game 6 that would have given the Bruins a two-goal lead in the third period. Even in Game 7, the Bruins didn't have one attempt on Florida's empty net, and Pastrnak was inches away from ending the game a minute into overtime when his shot on a very exposed net glanced off the handle of Bobrovsky's stick.
Some of that is just unlucky, but again, this is a situation the Bruins never should have found themselves in. They inexplicably gave the Panthers life in Game 5, turned in a stinker in Game 6, and couldn't close the door on them in Game 7 when they had the chance to do so. Now the B's get the vacation they say they don't want. Well, based on their play, it sure looked like they did.
With the season coming to a screeching halt, so many questions about this team's future that had been put on hold by their dominance throughout the season now have to be dealt with. Chief among them are the futures of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. For much of the season, this was setting up to be their swan song, but they can't go out like this, right?
The Boston area has seen quite a bit of winning since the start of the 21st century, but there have also been some crushing defeats along the way. Aside from the 2007 New England Patriots (who likely will never be surpassed) this is the most disappointing playoff defeat Boston fans have experienced during the region's stretch of success. And while the Bruins will be left wondering how they fell apart, it's clear that if they are looking to blame somebody, they can only blame themselves.
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