Disastrous end to Bruins’ 2022-23 season will haunt the franchise forever originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
BOSTON — Just a few weeks ago the Boston Bruins had wrapped up the greatest regular season in NHL history. Most wins ever. Most points ever. The deepest and most talented roster. The best goaltending duo. Home ice advantage throughout the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Everything was set up for a successful postseason run.
Fast forward to Sunday night and the once promising campaign is already over after a stunning Game 7 loss in overtime to the Florida Panthers at TD Garden.
That’s it. Out in the first round.
What started as an opportunity to be one of, if not the best team in league history, will ultimately be remembered as one of the biggest choke jobs ever. It’s a defeat that will haunt the franchise forever.
“Right now, it’s hard to process anything,” an emotional Patrice Bergeron said after the season-ending defeat. “Obviously, we’re shocked and disappointed.”
It’s not just the fact the Bruins lost the series despite being massive favorites that stands out, it’s the way in which it happened.
This team looked scared throughout the seven games. Whether it was the pressure of high expectations after a Presidents’ Trophy-winning regular season, the Panthers’ relentless forecheck or something else, the poise and composure we saw from Boston all year was consistently absent. Nowhere was that more apparent than their uncharacteristically bad puck management. The Bruins committed so many turnovers, and their eight goals allowed within five seconds of a 5-on-5 giveaway were twice as many as any other team in Round 1.
Did an easy regular season, and the lack of challenging times faced as a result, contribute to the team’s inability to handle adversity in the playoffs?
“I don’t think so, not with this group,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said. “I mean, there’s a lot of guys that have faced adversity. I do think our first two games we played, we weren’t ready for the intensity of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and I think that goes with the regular season but, Games 5, 6 and 7, we had dug in and that’s where it’s a little stupefying.”
Patrice Bergeron will take some time before deciding future with Bruins
Let’s not forget that just four days ago the Bruins had a 3-1 series lead. They needed only one win over the final three games to eliminate the Panthers, and two of those chances were at home, where the B’s had a league-leading…