Bruins Seeking Answers after Early Playoff Exit

Is the President's Trophy cursed? No, that would be ridiculous. But maybe...

It's been pretty well documented that teams that dominate during the regular season and win the President's Trophy for first place finish in the league seemed to be doomed in the playoffs. Year after year, these teams tend to lose in the first or second round and all their high hopes and expectations wither away. There are several factors that go into this; maybe being the top dog means that all other teams bring their "A" game to them, or possibly after their high level of play for the first 82 games, they just don't have enough left in the tank for a long playoff run.

Curse or not, the President's Trophy winner went home early again this year as the Bruins lost to the Canadiens in Game 7 in their own barn in front of a packed TD Garden crowd. I'm not going to get into the game itself, but let's just say it was a major disappoint not only that they lost but that they showed an abysmal lack of effort and intensity.

Instead, let's take a look at some of the pressing roster questions this offseason and what changes could be coming to the Black and Gold.

Bruins have no answer for Canadiens, fall 4-0 in Game 6

Well, now we know how other teams felt all season long when they played the Bruins. From start to finish, Boston has dominated teams in every facet of the game during the whole regular season. We had better goaltending, could score goals, played physical, and played smart. However, last night was a different story. The Canadiens instead trumped the Bruins 4-0 and forced a Game 7 back in Boston on Wednesday night.

The first period was barely underway when a bad Kevan Miller turnover in the defensive zone left Lars Eller alone in front of Rask, who tucked it in backhand to put the Canadiens up 1-0 just 2:11 into the game. The play electrified the crowd and sucked the life out of the Bruins.

The Bruins got the first powerplay of the game but were unable to piece together some quality scoring chances amidst some brilliant penalty killing by the Habs. The Carl Soderberg line continued to create chances when the big Swede overpowered the Canadiens' defenseman and got an off man rush, but Loui Eriksson rang the crossbar. There were a few more scoring opportunities for the Bruins early in the first, but they were unable to capitalize against Carey Price.

Subban, Price sink Bruins in 2OT in Game 1

51 shots on net wasn't enough to beat Carey Price as the Boston Bruins fell to the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3, in double overtime of Game 1. The Bruins battled back from behind twice in the game, scoring three goals in the third period to force the game into OT, but the Canadiens capitalized on a power play, with Montreal defenseman P.K. Subban scoring his second goal to send the quiet Garden crowd home for the night.


The Bruins started off well, carrying the play early on in the game and creating scoring chances. The David Krejci line and the Patrice Bergeron line both had great chances in the first period, but Price answered the call. Then the Canadiens were on the power play after Matt Bartkowski tripped Dale Weise and Subban fired a shot through traffic that found its way to the back of the net. The Bruins continued to get good scoring chances but they kept overcomplicating things, getting too cute and fancy with the puck. I specifically remember Torey Krug holding the puck too long before shooting on a pass from Milan Lucic as well as Brad Marchand turning the puck over because he was trying to dangle on the PK. After 20 minutes, the score remained 1-0.