The Boston Bruins watched the St.Louis Blues celebrate on their home ice because the B’s stars failed to show up.
Game 7’s are some of the craziest things in all of sports. They can rip your heart out and also make you extremely happy. For Boston Bruins fans Wednesday was a rough night.
The Boston Bruins had a chance to accomplish their dreams and win a Stanley Cup, but they failed. Boston failed to show up and now go home empty handed.
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This loss really stings for B’s fans and the players. Boston was supposed to win. They had the talent, and the skill. The Bruins just didn’t play well when they needed to.
Players like Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara may never get back to this spot again and the young studs like Jake DeBrusk and Charlie McAvoy saw how much it takes to win a Stanley Cup.
The fact of the matter is that some of Boston’s best players evaporated into thin air during the Stanley Cup Finals. These guys had amazing regular seasons, but failed to perform when the pressure was on.
In the end hockey is a team sport so you can’t blame one or two guys for the loss, but there are definitely some players in the locker room who are kicking themselves because they played so poorly.
So here are the 3 Boston Bruins who disappeared during the Stanley Cup Finals.
1. David Pastrnak
This postseason was a postseason from hell for David Pastrnak. He struggled immensely throughout the postseason.
Pastrnak’s struggles were stunning because he performed so well in the regular season. He was scoring goals left and right. He lead the entire Bruins roster with 38 goals.
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Then in the playoffs it was like Pastrnak was a complete different person. He was constantly turning the puck over and was struggling to get quality scoring opportunities.
The most frustrating thing was how Pastrnak would just lose control of the puck when it was on his stick. That is something that a 5-year-old does, not an NHL player.
Pastrnak finished the postseason with 9 goals and 10 assists, but was non-existent in the Stanley Cup Finals. He only had 2 goals and 2 assists and finished with a dreadful rating of -7.
Hopefully the next time that the Boston Bruins make the playoffs David Pastrnak will have a much better impact on his team.
2. Brad Marchand
Another 1st liner who failed to show up was Brad Marchand. It seems like whenever he gets to the Stanley Cup Finals he just forgets how to play hockey.
Marchand has played major minutes in 2 Stanley Cup Finals now and they haven’t been fun to watch. In 2013, Marchand failed to register a point in the Bruins loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
2019 was more of the same. Marchy only had 2 goals and 3 assists and finished with a rating of -2.
Against the Blues, Marchand just made stupid mental errors. One error will haunt him for the rest of his life.
With the 1st period about to end in Game 7 Marchand decided to go off for a change and that led to a goal giving the Blues a 2-0 lead.
This was just a bad series for Marchand and it will be a permanent mark on his otherwise impressive resume.
3. David Krejci
The 1st line isn’t completely to blame. The 2nd line played pretty poorly as well. One of the worst players on the 2nd line was David Krejci.
Krejci is a talented center, but he showed a fatal flaw in the Stanley Cup Finals. It seems like Krejci is too reliant on others.
There is no doubt that Krejci has a ton of skill, but he needs people surrounding him to perform well. That just shouldn’t be the case. Krejci should be lifting up the players who play around him.
In the Stanley Cup Finals Krejci only had two assists. That isn’t enough production from your 2nd line center.
This loss will sting for a while, but hopefully the Bruins will use this is motivation and scratch and claw there way to the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals. If they do they will have a chance to fix their mistakes and raise another banner to the TD Garden rafters.