I'm Still Bitter About The B's

After the Bruins finished up their season this past Sunday, I've noticed it hasn't been easy to write this blog because I'm still very bitter. Just to start, why was there multiple times during the playoffs I would see our opponent score and our team would be standing around watching the puck go past them and into the net? I don't get heated too much, but seriously?!

Also, I am no professional athlete, but gassed or not, when you're in the playoffs your adrenaline must be flowing, so why did I see zero sense of urgency? I am not talking about every single player, but a few of them didn't even look like the same person from the regular season into the playoffs.

Anywho, let's break this up into who sucked, why we lost, who was amazing, and what it means for the future.

Starting off with who/what sucked: The B's top line (Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand & David Pastrnak) were possibly the best in the NHL during the regular season and were non-existent during the playoffs. The turnovers from key players were extremely detrimental, and yes maybe a few calls didn't go our way, but we played so poorly that I'm not even sure it would have made a difference. We had players that were gassed, players not being aggressive, and even players shying away from the puck because they didn't feel like taking a hit. Overall, there are so many areas that we need to make adjustments, otherwise we will continue to be manhandled in the first/second round of the playoffs.

Why we lost / things to improve on:

1. Our top line contributed to 40+ goals in the 5 playoff wins, and contributed to ONLY 12 goals in our 7 losses. I'm not saying that other players didn't have big moments, because they did, however, all season the B's were sooo good because each line was contributing. Maybe it's because we have younger players, maybe its because the Lighting were just that good, or maybe it's because our veteran players were exhausted. Call it what you want, but I fear for the future because it's been a constant struggle for the Bruins in the past. For some reason the past few years in big games (playoffs) our top line has disappeared, and when they are not putting pucks on net the entire team shuts down/falls apart. I'm not going to put the entire blame on the top line, because they can't always be the go-to, but 12 goals over 7 games is mind blowing when you produced 41 in 5.

2. Playing 5:5 was an absolute nightttmaaareeee for the B's. As they continued to struggle the Lighting became more confident, which didn't give us many options to make plays. I don't think this will always be a factor, but in this series the onnllyyy time we were coming up with numerous shots on net were in power plays.

3. Someone needs to step up, I don't know who, but we can't have Chara in for the entire game. I understand that he is getting older and I am not saying that we need to trade him (when he is on his A game he is huge for us). However, I am saying we can shave off some of his ice time so he isn't so gassed Game 1 of the first series. Otherwise, the B's summer will start in May EVERY year.

4. Turnovers! What else can I even say about this? Every damn time we made a mistake the Lighting made us pay, and would turn our missed passes, turnovers, or power plays into a goal. There is no way we can get away with never making a mistake, but some of the errors made from top line guys were shocking to me, and shouldn't have happened so frequently.

Who played amazing:

I think we are all very impressed with Charlie McAvoy and Jake DeBrusk. They both proved they are NHL ready, and capable of making big moves in big time games (side note: I was extremely impressed to see McAvoy rush to the puck like he did, take huge hits, and even make some big defensive plays by our net).

What is next for the B's:

1. Well to start off, our top line is resilient and they will come back next season just as good as they did this year, if not better.

2. Yes, Tuukka made some awful mistakes letting some easy goals in, but I'm hoping that his playoff jitters are gone (by jitters I mean playoff curse, see last blog about this) because by the end of this series he was the one that was keeping us alive.

3. The future is bright! We have plenty of young guys, that now have playoff experience under their belts and can start off next year with more confidence/experience, which will hopefuullllyy alleviate some pressure from the top line.

4. It was the first full season for Bruce Cassidy as the B's head coach, and this was the first year they have advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals since 2014. With that said, I don't think this was a fluke, I think the B's were in a rut the pass couple of years, and Cassidy was just the change they needed to get back on track.

5. The B's have $65 million committed for next season, and the cap could possibly get moved up to $78-$82 million, so hopefully that will give Sweeney some extra cap space to make a pretty decent move.

All in all this was not suppose to be a post about how wonderful the B's can be, because it still SUUCCKKS that we were eliminated in the second round. However, we saw the core guys (top line) all have an incredible year and the young guys step up, so maybe the B's just simply faced a better team in round 2.

You can't ask for much more than improvement, (besides wanting the cup, and I will always ask for that).

As Bill Belichick always says, we are onto 2018!

#Boston #sports