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.

Bruins/Canadiens Series Preview

Much of what made the Red Sox World Series win in 2004 so special is the legendary series against the Yankees. Similarly, a Bruins Cup run would seem incomplete without a match up against Montreal. Playing against a rival enhances all of the excitement, intensity, and emotions in the game and make victory that much sweeter.

In 2011, it took a Nathan Horton overtime goal in Game 7 to beat the Canadiens in the first round and the Bruins of course went on to win the Cup. They will have a chance to do it again this year against a Habs team that is fast, strong, and talented. Here's a deeper look at the matchup between these two Original 6 teams.

Bruins Take Control of Series with 3-0 Win Over Red Wings

Now that’s more like it. After splitting a pair of games in Boston, the Bruins beat the Red Wings soundly in Game 3 by a score of 3-0. Tuukka Rask, who was awarded the first star of the game, made 23 saves and got the shutout for the Black and Gold.

The Bruins got the jump on the Wings early in the game and didn’t let up for a full sixty minutes. Dougie Hamilton opened the scoring with a powerplay goal in the first, making a nifty end-to-end rush and firing off a quick shot over the shoulder of Howard.

Later in the first, the B’s took advantage of a bad line chance by the Red Wings and tallied another. Thornton took the puck hard to the net and Jordan Caron buried the rebound, putting the Bruins up by two heading into the locker room after the first period.

Datsyuk's late heroics topple B's in Game 1

Well, it’s certainly not the start of the series that Bruins fans hoped for and expected. The Bruins team that finished 3rd in the league in goals was shutout by Jimmy Howard and the Detroit Red Wings, the lone goal of the game coming from an incredible individual effort by Pavel Datsyuk.

The Bruins have had a tendency under Claude Julien to struggle out of the gate in the first round and it looks like this year’s no different. Many confident B’s fans were calling for a 5 game washout of the Wings, but it doesn’t look like it’ll be that easy. Keep in mind that the first round series in the last three years have gone seven games.

The Bruins got off to a quick start tonight, rolling four lines and putting pressure on Howard early. He responded to the challenges however, and Detroit came back with some chances of their own. In the second period, the Wings seemed to carry the play and there were several spans of two to three minutes where the Bruins couldn’t even get the puck out of their zone, which is very unlikely for them.

Bruins - Red Wings Series Preview

It’s that time of year again, and what better way to start the Bruins 2014 playoff journey than an Original Six match up against the Red Wings? Led by the elusive Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit has booked their reservation to the postseason for 23 years in a row now. I’ve already projected the Bruins to beat Detroit in 6 games, but let’s take a deeper look at how they match up.

Offense

The Bruins finished 3rd in the league with 3.15 Goals/game, whereas Detroit sat at 16th with 2.65. The Bruins boasts four deep lines that Julien can roll through regularly, which only a small handful of teams have the ability to do. Krejci-Lucic-Iginla is as talented, but more importantly well-balanced, as any line in the league. Go on down the line and Bergeron, Marchand, Smith, Eriksson, and Soderberg all provide great secondary scoring that creates a match up nightmare for opposing teams.