When it was all said and done, the Boston Bruins simply lost to a better hockey team.
That may or may not have been the case a year ago when the Black and Gold went out in the first round in seven games against Florida after a record-breaking regular season, but this time around the scrappy B’s were up against an experienced, tough, deep and talented Florida group that got all the way to the Stanley Cup Final last season.
The Panthers effectively squeezed the life out of Boston’s offense after allowing six goals in a rusty series opener, and the Bruins failed to score three goals in eight of their last nine playoff games that ended with a 2-1 demise in Game 6 at TD Garden on Friday night. The numbers weren’t pretty whether it was just one power-play goal in the six games against the Panthers, or that the Bruins finished 12th among the 16 playoff teams with a paltry 2.38 goals per game.
That is not a sustainable level of offense in the Stanley Cup playoffs no matter how good your goaltender is playing.
"The lack of our ability to score in the playoffs. You can't win every game 2-1, you know?” said Jim Montgomery, who has guided the Bruins to a 3-8 record in home playoff games at TD Garden over the last two postseasons. “We had the opportunities, right? I think we had five odd-man rush opportunities through the [first] two periods and we didn’t finish them. In Game 4 we had four breakaways that we didn’t score on. Their goalie was good, and we didn’t beat him.
“We played too much in our own end in the second and third period tonight. You’re never happy when you don’t win your last game of the year, but some players had tremendous growth this year. We just have to find ways to get better and win our last game of the year.”
Full credit to the Bruins for showing guts and character by winning a solid Game 5 in Florida and for coming out of the gate strong for Friday night’s do-or-die Game 6. But the B’s couldn’t bury a number of chances in the middle period despite being outplayed by the Panthers, and then couldn’t find a way to push a puck past Sergei Bobrovsky in the third period when Aleksander Barkov and Co. were busy selling out blocking David Pastrnak shots to ensure that the series didn’t get to a seventh game.
Bruins captain Brad Marchand returned to play Game 6 and gave the Bruins a boost of energy even if it was clear he wasn’t quite 100 percent, but he was also ready to credit a Panthers team that defeated his Bruins without controversy or any doubt really. Sometimes in the playoffs, one team loses to a better hockey team, and that was case in this second matchup where winning a playoff series could be looked at someday as an important developmental step for this young, improving group.
“It’s disappointing. We obviously would have liked and expected a different result, especially doing it in that fashion in the last minute. But it shows how much of a game of inches it is,” said Marchand. “They’re a great team and you can’t discredit them at all. We battled hard, but I still thought we had more, and I expected better.
“I can’t put into words how much proud I am of this group from where we started with expectations to start the season that everybody wrote us off and said we wouldn’t even be a playoff team. We ended up being one of the best teams in the league and we had a lot of new guys in new roles. They came in and did something special. From where we started to where we finished, I couldn’t be prouder.”
There were, of course, some angry Garden denizens who were tossing water bottles and yellow rally towels on the ice when the Bruins gave up the game-winner to Gus Forsling with less than two minutes until both teams would have pushed to overtime. But there were many more that seemed to understand the moment and the B’s place in it from a team development standpoint, and loudly chanted “Sway-Man, Sway-Man” as the post-series handshake line snaked across center ice.
It was clear that everybody recognized something special had happened in defeat, as the Boston Bruins undoubtedly have their No. 1 goaltender after Jeremy Swayman carried them through two rounds and goes out leading the entire NHL playoff field with a .933 save percentage after stopping 26-of-28 in defeat.
Nobody was about to blame Swayman for a big rebound on an Anton Lundell shot that turned into the Forsling Game 6 game-winner because the Bruins goalie was, by far, the single biggest factor that got them that far.
"Tears...tears,” said Swayman of his reaction when he heard the fans chanting his game in appreciation. “I couldn't be more grateful to have a city, have a home base that's as supportive as Boston. They mean so much more than just fans to me. It’s truly a home for me now. Just so grateful for the love & support. That was an incredible moment."
"I can't be more grateful to have a city, to have a home base that's as supportive as Boston."
— NESN (@NESN) May 18, 2024
Jeremy Swayman on the TD Garden crowd chanting his name at the end of the Bruins playoff run. #NHLBruins | https://t.co/1riFRo7BIX pic.twitter.com/avd3Aui2ty
It was probably the best moment of the night along with Pavel Zacha snapping a 20-game playoff goal-scoring drought with the Bruins by finishing a slick backhanded breakaway bid in the first period.
Brandon Carlo flattened Carter Verhaeghe just before Zacha’s goal:
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) May 17, 2024
pic.twitter.com/BuMzCA1Q8s
That had Montgomery believing this was going to be Boston’s night until he watched Justin Brazeau, Charlie Coyle, and both Pastrnak and Marchand fail to finish on a number of quality odd-man rushes allowed by Florida in a loose playoff period at both ends.
“I thought it was going to be our night before the game. I just thought our players were loose and confident and they went out and played that way,” said Montgomery. “I thought we started the game off really well and the last five minutes [with the Zacha goal] we played really well.
“We had odd-man rushes – the Brazeau chance, the Coyle chance and then basically a 2-on-1 with Marchand and Pastrnak – and some of those you need to bury so you have more of a cushion.”
The bigger issue for the Bruins was the inability again this season to effectively break the puck out against a fast, punishing Florida forecheck that gave Boston fits last season as well. That bottled up Boston’s offense and allowed the Panthers to win the territorial battle in the offensive zone so much that it appeared to be lopsided in Florida’s favor at times.
The Bruins will be able to go to the drawing board to a degree with $21 million in cap space this summer – or $26 million if the B’s can end up finding a trade partner for Linus Ullmark – and add to this group that’s clearly in transition moving from the old guard to new leaders and franchise players like Charlie McAvoy, Pastrnak and Swayman.
It all makes the second-round series loss to Florida a little easier to take for most Bruins fans that knew they didn’t have a realistic chance against a Panthers team that feels like they are headed to the Stanley Cup Final once again. But it’s still an empty feeling for those at TD Garden when the home crowd goes dead silent at the end of an elimination playoff game knowing that means hockey season is effectively over for the next few months.