After all of the ups and downs of the Bruins season, they still had a legitimate shot at reaching the Conference Finals. With a commanding 3-0 lead in the first period, the Flyers fought back as they did all series to make it a 3-3 game heading into the third period.
Then a crucial error deep into the third period did the Bruins in. With both teams firing back and forth in a fast pace and physical final period, the Bruins were called for too many men on the ice. Vladimir Sobotka skated off of the bench and found himself on the ice with five other skaters. Unfortunately, with seven minutes left in a tie game the refs whistled the penalty after letting the teams play. The Flyers capitalized with a goal by Bruins killer Simon Gagne that was the eventual game winner.
Perhaps the Bruins were complacent with their 3-0 series lead. However, the true turning point in the series was the hit on the Bruins leading scorer David Krejci in game four that broke his wrist and sidelined him for the rest of the series. The Bruins never truly retaliated after the brutal open ice hit and their offense certainly was stagnant from then on. Not to mention, the Bruins lost center Marco Sturm earlier in the series.
Only the truest optimists believed that the Bruins would be in a great position to head into the quarter finals of the NHL season after they snuck into the playoffs as the six seed. Fans would have been happy with a series win because this team, without a legitimate goal scorer like Phil Kessel, just wasn't a legit Stanley Cup contender.
This team got us going though. They took down the Buffalo Sabers and they looked poised to take down the Flyers. Then the team ran out of steam. Claude Julien's trademark team defense became sloppy and the passion to win turned into complacency.
No doubt, this was an epic collapse. No one expected this team to be in the situation they were in, but the fact is they were. Now one of three NHL team's to blow 3-0 series leads, the Bruins are in the wrong side of the history books.
We'll let this settle in.
Check back next week for a Bruins off-season preview.
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