Boston Bruins: The storybook season has come to a close

The Boston Bruins lost on Sunday afternoon putting an end to their season earlier than fans hoped.

The saying goes “all good things must come to an end.” This may be true but Boston Bruins fans were hoping that this season would end with the Bruins hoisting the Stanley Cup. They seemed to be a much better team than the Lightning entering round 2, but the Bruins were easily taken out in just 5 games.

The Bruins played a decent game on Sunday, but decent isn’t good enough in the playoffs. Tuukka Rask gave them a chance to win, and they were able to come out and score the first goal of the game. Even with all this going for them the Bruins were unable to stay alive and win game 5.

An awesome start

The Bruins were able to get on the board first on Sunday which seemed impossible in prior games. The B’s were on the powerplay and they were finally able to get the puck moving in the Lightning zone. Charlie McAvoy sent a pass to David Krejci who was in David Pastrnak’s favorite spot. Krejci launched a one-timer to give the Bruins the lead late in the first period.

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Everything seemed to be going great for the Bruins. They had the lead entering the first intermission, something that seemed impossible in prior games.

Charlie McAvoy had an awesome game. With Torey Krug out, McAvoy got a boatload of ice time. He actually logged the most ice time playing 26:49.

McAvoy was skating hard, banging bodies, and trying to get the Bruins going in the offensive zone.

Tuukka tried

Tuukka Rask didn’t have a horrible game, but he didn’t have a great game either. He stopped 19 shots and came up clutch in the 3rd period, but Rask is probably wishing he was able to get his glove on the eventual game-winning goal from J.T. Miller.

A lot of the goals this series were due to poor defense and that stood true on Sunday. Kevan Miller had his worst game of the series and allowed for the first goal to occur. He was unable to get the puck out of the zone multiple times. The 2nd goal also could have been prevented if the Bruins PK team could have stopped the 2 man give and go play.

The Boston Bruins just couldn’t get it done

The Bruins winning the series would have been a miracle, but not because they are a terrible team. The Bruins are probably the better team, especially going forward, but they only got consistent production from the first line, and they struggled defensively. Then there was also the officials.

I wouldn’t say the officiating dictated the series, but it made things a lot more difficult for the Bruins. The refs missed a high hit on Zdeno Chara early in the 1st period, and a delay of game call late in the third. Also, it could be argued that since J.T. Miller’s hit led to David Backes getting concussed that he might have deserved a penalty, but the refs thought the high hit was ok and Miller would score the game-winning goal. Hindsight is 20/20, but you have to think that if the terrible calls in the series go a different way the Bruins would still be alive or maybe even heading to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Next: Boston Bruins: The B’s didn’t lose game 4 (but they are down 3-1)

This has been a pretty great season for the Bruins. The fact that we are bummed over a conference semifinals lost shows how much this team has improved. There is still a lot to unpack, but keep your heads high Bruins fans, this was one hell of a season.

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