Neely loves seeing B’s youth flourish
OTTAWA — Even before he watched the Bruins win in double overtime against the Senators in last night’s Game 5 of their firstround series, president Cam Neely had a positive feeling about what his team has accomplished over the past few months.
“Hopefully this a springboard for big things to come,” Neely said as he watched the B’s morning skate yesterday.
He said he actually is not disappointed at how the series has gone.
“I don’t want to say disappointed; maybe a little frustrated. ” Neely said. “At worst, we thought we should be 2-2 in the series instead of down 3-1. But the team has played well. Every game was close enough that we felt like we at least gave ourselves a good chance to win.”
Neely sees comparisons between this playoff experience and the team’s efforts in its 2008 firstrounder vs. Montreal, a terrific seven-game matchup — featuring the magnificently entertaining 5-4 Game 6 win in Boston — that re-awakened excitement and hope for what had been a diminished franchise.
The B’s lost that series but began a resurgence that led to the 2011 Stanley Cup.
“Yeah, I would agree with that comparison,” Neely said. “There’s lot to be said about having that experience of playoff hockey. And I think the way we finished this year and how we played has a bigger impact than if we just sort of hung on and snuck into playoffs.
“Think about what we had to do just to get into the playoffs. That last 26-27 games (going 188-1) showed a lot about this team and what the capabilities were. Obviously getting into the playoffs is not as easy as it used to be, with more teams and the parity.
“The last two years we probably should have been in the playoffs but faltered at the end. This goaround has been kind of the opposite: We had to finish well and we did. It was a completely different feeling.”
And even being down 3-1 and facing elimination, Neely felt pretty good about how the B’s have played against Ottawa despite having several key players injured.
“There have been four one-goal games, two in overtime,” he said. “We knew it was going to be tight against these guys. We wish we could have created a little bit more offense. . . .
“We’ve played well defensively, too. Considering what we’re missing on the back end, team-wise we are paying well defensively. We’re getting saves when we need them. And we’re getting opportunities. We just haven’t been able to capitalize on them.”
Neely sees great value in the B’s many young players gaining postseason experience against such a strong opponent.
“Obviously you want to go as far as you can (in the playoffs) and see where it can take you. But the experience that Pasta (David Pastrnak) is getting, seeing what (Charlie) McAvoy can do — a guy who maybe wasn’t even expected to be in the lineup, except for these injuries — and other guys getting this chance.
“There are real positives with some of the guys who hadn’t played playoff hockey before, giving them the chance to see what it’s really like to compete.”