Remember that not-a-failure rhetoric of Milwaukee Bucks superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo after their embarrassing first-round exit at the hands of Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat in the 2023 NBA Playoffs? Well, it's become a big theme Sunday night in the world of hockey, with fans using that perspective by the Greek Freak to clown not just him but the Boston Bruins, who won this season's Presidents' Trophy but failed to get past the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“This is the perfect scenario for the Giannis failure argument: The Bruins set the record for most regular-season wins in NHL history, they’re literally going down in history. They lost in the first round. Is the season a failure?” asked Jonny Lazarus of The Hockey News.

“No disrespect to Giannis when you complete a historic regular season and then lose in the first round….your season is a failure #bruins,” tweeted Glenn Ordway.

“Don’t worry Bruins, your season wasn’t a failure.. just a step toward success,” said @lovestdiomande.

There's no sugarcoating what the Bruins did in the first round against the Panthers: they choked.

Boston, which finished the regular season with a 65-12-5 record, won three of the first four games of the Florida series then lost all the last three. They were up 3-2 with a minute to go in regulation of Game 7 before Brandon Montour scored a game-tying goal to force overtime where the Panthers sealed the deal with a Carter Verhaeghe score.

The Bruins are now out of contention for the Stanley Cup, while the Panthers are on their way to a second-round date against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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