These Boston Bruins haven’t been accustomed to shedding streaks.
They tore by means of the N.H.L. through the common season, profitable 65 video games, a single-season report; claiming the Presidents’ Trophy with a league-high of 135 factors, 22 factors clear of each different group; and outscoring their opponents by 128 targets.
However in spite of everything that profitable, a three-game shedding streak, simply their second of the season, got here at an inopportune time. The Florida Panthers defeated the Bruins, 4-3, in time beyond regulation of Recreation 7 of their first-round playoff sequence on Sunday night time in Boston to finish a uncommon comeback from a 3-1 sequence deficit. And so they did so towards among the most formidable opposition within the league’s 106-year historical past: The Bruins had 43 extra factors than the Panthers did within the common season.
Boston had been so dominant that on Saturday night time, after Toronto beat Tampa Bay to win a postseason sequence for the primary time since 2004, some followers of the Maple Leafs gathered exterior the group’s area and chanted, “We would like Florida.”
They bought their want.
Carter Verhaeghe, a member of Tampa Bay’s 2020 championship group, clinched the sequence with a left-handed shot from the proper face-off dot by means of a display by Matthew Tkachuk.
The Panthers constructed a 2-0 lead early within the second interval, inciting a smattering of boos from an antsy Boston crowd. The Bruins scored three consecutive targets and seemed poised to advance, however defenseman Brandon Montour pressured time beyond regulation by scoring his second purpose of the sport with lower than a minute left, and the goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was despatched to the bench for an additional attacker.
By shedding within the first spherical, the Bruins have been dealt the identical destiny of the 2018-19 Lightning, who had shared the earlier report for single-season wins with the 1995-96 Detroit Crimson Wings. That Tampa Bay group crashed out in a four-game sweep to Columbus, inspiring an apology to the followers on social media. Of the 4 groups to win a minimum of 60 video games in a season, just one, the star-laden 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens, went on to win the Stanley Cup.
This yr’s Bruins, beneath their first-year coach, Jim Montgomery, additionally had expertise all through their roster. 5 gamers had a minimum of 20 targets, and 5 had a minimum of 40 assists. David Pastrnak, the star winger who signed an eight-year contract extension final month, led each these classes with profession highs of 61 targets and 52 assists.
In web, Linus Ullmark’s league-leading save proportion and goals-against common had positioned him as a favourite to win the Vezina Trophy. And when Ullmark was not in between the pipes, Jeremy Swayman was posting stellar numbers, too.
This yr, Boston turned the quickest group ever to achieve 50 wins. By the top, although, followers on the TD Backyard have been trudging towards the exits after the Bruins turned the twenty eighth N.H.L. group to lose a playoff sequence after main by 3-1.
Boston will now enter an low season with essential inquiries to reply. The group doesn’t have a lot wage cap house, and its unrestricted free brokers embody two members of its most up-to-date championship group — Patrice Bergeron, the 37-year-old captain and a prime defensive ahead; and David Krejci, who had a purpose and two assists on Sunday. The group had rallied round these veterans to attempt to ship them yet another title.
The Bruins additionally do not need high-end draft picks out there. They don’t have a first- or second-round choose this yr and, due to a previous commerce, they could not have a variety within the 2024 draft till the fourth spherical.
The Panthers had been soundly overwhelmed in Recreation 4 and have been one time beyond regulation purpose away from their season being over within the subsequent sport. As a substitute, improbably, they’ll play on.
