No easy out for Bruins
Big season raises the bar for postseason
The Bruins have treated us to a magical season, to be sure.
Cardiac comebacks had been so commonplace, it was a bit of a shock they couldn’t complete another last night. A seemingly endless supply of young blood contributed to victories on a nightly basis. Bruce Cassidy became the latest Bruins coach to take his second chance and run with it.
And with the most reasonable preseason expectations placing this youthladen squad in a wild card spot at best, the B’s were playing last night to overtake the Tampa Bay Lightning for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
They couldn’t pull it off, losing to the Florida Panthers, 4-2, and looking like a tired, mentally drained bunch for most of the first two periods. But the fact that they were in such a game reflects on how far they exceeded early prognostications.
Now the question is, how fondly will we remember all of that?
Nothing erases a great regular season like a quick playoff exit. And make no mistake: When the puck drops between the B’s and the Maple Leafs Thursday night, the real season begins.
These B’s have raised the bar to the point that a oneand-done will not be taken nearly as kindly as it was last season, when Cassidy guided a sprint to the finish line that got the B’s into the postseason.
Now, listen: No matter what happens in these next two weeks or two months, the future is promising for the B’s. They’ve got a half dozen rookies on the roster who may not have exactly led this team to where it is today, but none were what you’d call bit players, either. And the cupboard down in Providence is well-stocked for the coming years.
There is little that could happen in the upcoming playoffs to drastically alter general manager Don Sweeney’s course of action moving forward. The organization is not teetering on the same precipice as when the Bruins last won the Cup in 2011, when a first-round loss to the Canadiens might have meant then-coach Claude Julien and then-GM Peter Chiarelli would have gotten the gate.
But with the way the B’s have performed since midNovember, fans understandably want their future now and later. The pressure is very much on. And while this team may have outperformed the expectations of even Sweeney and team president Cam Neely, management rightly recognized that seasons like this don’t come around every year.
Not only did management get optimal performances from most of the rookies, they’ve received career years out of veterans Riley Nash and Tim Schaller.
And management invested a lot in this squad. It spent a first-round pick and a decent prospect (Ryan Lindgren), as well as Ryan Spooner, to bring in veteran forward Rick Nash. They used a third-round pick and a possible regular defenseman (Rob O’Gara) to get veteran defenseman Nick Holden. Both Holden and Rick Nash could be mere rentals. That capital cannot be spent every year.
These B’s are indeed all in for this season. A quick exit would hurt badly, but even a first-round victory is not guaranteed. This is not the NBA, where talent almost always wins out. For the team that raises the world’s most famous trophy in June, everything has to break just right. And for a team that may put up to a half dozen rookies on the ice, potential potholes are lurking.
Brad Marchand was a rookie in 2011, when he won a ring along with current Bruins Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, David Krejci, Adam McQuaid and Tuukka Rask. He will no doubt dispense as much wisdom as he can to the youngsters about what it’s like playing in the postseason. But he knows there is only so much the youngsters can learn from what they’re told.
“It’s really hard to know what it’s going to be like,” said Marchand. “It’s a whole new experience.”
Seven years ago, Marchand proved himself to be a prime-time player with 11 goals and 19 points in 25 postseason games during that roller-coaster run. Whether or not the next Marchand is ready to blossom in Ryan Donato, Danton Heinen or Jake DeBrusk may determine how long or short, how painful or joyful the offseason will be for Boston hockey fans.