If the Bruins could get out past the second round, they were going to the Stanley Cup Final. That was the correct answer every time someone asked whether the Bruins were the best team in hockey, the Cup favorite, etc.
It sounded like a cop-out; you're either good enough or you aren't good enough, right? How could a Cup run be contingent on getting out of the second round? If you're capable of playing for the Cup, you're certainly capable of getting out of the second round.
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Well, the Bruins were capable of getting out of the second round, but not against one of only two teams that were better than them this regular season. The Lightning in the second round always looked to be the sphinxes from The Neverending Story; if you could get past them, you could go all the way (I don't remember The Neverending Story well enough to know whether that analogy was used correctly).
So the Bruins' season is over. It's the last thing anyone wants to hear right now, but the organization should ultimately be delighted by what it got this season: Massive steps taken by young players, confirmation that their star players still have it (most notably Zdeno Chara, who's signed for another year) and improved play out of Tuukka Rask after his performances dipped behind the defenses of recent seasons past.
The Bruins are leaps and bounds farther than anyone could have expected them to be at this point based on how Don Sweeney's tenure began. You can say that expectations should have become Cup or Bust once Sweeney opted to trade a first-round pick and a good prospect for Rick Nash, but that's silly. Lots of teams spend at the trade deadline. The Bruins should have because they were Cup contenders.
But it was clearly a two-team race in the conference and the other team happened to be in their division. The other team also happened to be stacked and still ended up adding a top-four defenseman at the trade deadline.
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Based on how the Bruins played Tampa in the regular season, there was reason to debate which group was better. In the end, Tampa proved to be deeper and more talented. Maybe there was some cause-and-effect involved, but they also got better coaching as the series went on.
Jon Cooper deserves a lot of credit for not overreacting to his shutdown line (centered by Brayden Point) being destroyed to the tune of five goals against in Game 1. He stuck to his plan and Point and Co. proved to be excellent.
The Bruins, on the other hand, essentially picked the worst time possible for one of their worst slumps of the season, a stretch that saw them go 2-6 over their final eight games. Part of that had to do with the fact that five of those games came against the best team in their conference. Part of it had to do with their coach not being able to count on any forwards outside of his top line by the end of the postseason.
Bruce Cassidy, who was clearly one of the best coaches in hockey this season, was left to tinker with his forward lines in the final two games. He couldn't find results, which falls on the players. It also begs the question of whether that much tinkering was needed.
But the Bruins simply lost to a better team. Yes, they had poor showings in most of their second-round games; in fact, if they played the way they did this round against Pittsburgh or Tampa, they might have lost to them, too. Then again, Pittsburgh and Washington don't have a defense like Tampa's.
There shouldn't have to be much damage-control or finger-pointing. The Bruins got a lot of good performances (Chara, Rask, the Bergeron line, DeBrusk at points) and were clearly lacking in secondary scoring. Free agency will likely take the Bruins from having two Nashes to having zero. It would be fantastic to get the final three years of David Backes' contract off the books, but it would likely be very difficult to find a trade partner unless the Bruins ate half of his cap hit.
So really, the Bruins are probably looking at having a very similar roster next season to the one that just lost. That's not bad at all, especially when considering that Ryan Donato, Anders Bjork, and other youngsters should secure jobs.
Being eliminated is never a good feeling, but the Bruins should feel good about their season. They're in a very good place.