The Boston Bruins put together one of the greatest regular seasons in NHL history during the 2022-23 season, only for it to shockingly end with a first-round exit in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Perhaps the two men themselves knew it at the time, but the Bruins and their fans had to face a tough reality shortly after the playoff exit. Captain Patrice Bergeron and longtime Bruin David Krejci hung up their skates following the season.
Brad Marchand, now the longest-tenured Bruins player and Boston's captain following Bergeron's retirement, said failing to win the Stanley Cup in the veterans' final seasons has been a tough pill to swallow.
“I think what hurts the most about that is we wanted it more for Bergy and Krejci than ourselves,” Marchand said, via Greg Wyshynski. “We wanted to give them a fairytale ending before they walked away. And we didn't make it through the first round. So it sucks to lose, but it sucks more because we feel like we let those guys down.”
It's not just that the Bruins lost after posting the best regular season record in NHL history, it's how they did it. Boston had a 3-1 lead over the Florida Panthers through four games of the first-round series. A Game 6 loss in a 12-goal affair sandwiched between a pair of overtime losses ended the Bruins' season and with it, Bergeron and Krejci's NHL careers.
The Bruins might have a slightly different look to them this season, but the ghosts of last year seem to still be in some of their minds.
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