The 5 Reasons Why the Bruins Had Their Season End in Heartbreak vs. Panthers

BOSTON — Many of us spent the 2022-23 NHL season wondering if the Boston Bruins—the best regular-season team in NHL history—had any flaws at all.

They had a Vezina-contending starting goalie in Linus Ullmark working in a solid, feel-good tandem with Jeremy Swayman. They had the star factor in David Pastrňák and the depth that seemed almost unfair with consistent contributions from players like Jake DeBrusk, Charlie Coyle and Taylor Hall. They had Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm holding down the back end. They had the veteran presence of returning captain Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Krejčí. They had a great redemption story in first-year head coach Jim Montgomery. They even had one heck of a trade deadline, acquiring players that immediately made an impact like Tyler Bertuzzi, Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway.

They also had a certain third-period magic where you didn't know how or when they'd do it, but you just knew that they could pull out a win in almost any situation.

Maybe the sudden disappearance of that magic throughout their first-round choke job is the most stunning revelation of all.

The Florida Panthers completed a rally from a 3-1 series deficit Sunday night with a stunning 4-3 overtime win in Game 7. It ended what many assumed was going to be a deep Cup run for Boston. The 43-point difference between the Panthers and Bruins' regular-season records represents the largest upset in Stanley Cup Playoffs history in a best-of-seven series, by the way.

"I guess the words that come to mind right now are disappointment, confusion," Montgomery said postgame.

It turns out the Bruins did have flaws, and they reared their heads at the worst possible time. Five big issues in particular stand out following the abrupt and unceremonious end to their historic season.

So what happened?

As there usually is this time of year, there was some mystery surrounding key injuries.

Patrice Bergeron sat out the first four games of the series with what was first announced as a stomach bug that had spread around Boston's locker room.

But the Bruins' captain revealed postgame that the nagging injury he suffered at the end of the regular season was a herniated disc in his back. He played through the herniated disc in the last three games of the series, averaging 18:15 TOI, scoring one goal and ending up with an uncharacteristic minus-four rating.

Bergeron's performance is not even close to the main reason the Bruins lost, but a 100-percent Bergeon changes this series.

"Obviously, it's stiff," he said postgame. "I mean, it's definitely not something I'm going to use as an excuse. It is what it is. Everyone battles with a lot of things during playoffs. It's just unfortunate the way that it happened, on a fluke play."

David Krejčí was also banged up and missed the first five games with an upper-body injury that hasn't yet been disclosed. Krejčí, always a Game 7 performer, still ended up with a goal and two assists Sunday. The two assists gave him 12 in Game 7s, an NHL record.

Having your top two centers and most experienced playoff veterans out for more than half of the series and then limited because of injury is going to impact even the deepest team.

Surely, there will be more injury reveals on locker clean-out day.

The most egregious development of the series was the way the Bruins kept turning the puck over in their own end. Call it a slew of mental mistakes, call it sloppy play, call it all of the above—the giveaways, weak play along the boards and lack of sustainable possession and pressure were equal parts baffling and inexcusable all series.

"I thought we didn't possess pucks well enough. I thought we were just looking to punt pucks not playing our normal puck possession game when we had it," Montgomery said. "I thought we defended and checked hard, but we were checking too much because of our puck play."

The Bruins had 18 giveaways to the Panthers' nine in Game 7. Other than giveaways, it's difficult to pinpoint a specific stat to encapsulate the lack of clutch-per-60 that the Bruins embodied, but I guess you can find it in how close everything was when it shouldn't have been.

According to Natural Stat Trick, our own eyeballs and the fact that Game 7 overtime occurred, this series was even at five-on-five. Through seven games at even strength, the Panthers had a 15-13 edge in goals, 53.57 percent edge in Corsi and a 50.22-49.78 percent advantage in expected goals.

The Panthers seemed to have that X-factor we all love to see in playoff hockey but can't always explain. They capitalized on the turnovers the Bruins so generously gave them, and they won consequential puck battles along the walls.

Were the Bruins careless because their regular season was a breeze?

"I don't think so, not with this group," Montgomery said. "I mean, there's a lot of guys that have faced adversity. I do think our first two games we played, we weren't ready for the intensity of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and I think that goes with the regular season, but Games 5, 6 and 7, we had dug in, and that's where it's a little stupefying."

Matthew Tkachuck had a Hart-caliber regular season, if only some menace named Connor McDavid didn't exist.

Tkachuk led the Panthers with 40 goals and 109 points in 79 games as they made their late playoff push. He's clearly been invigorated by that, and he made some Mark Messier-esque comments, low-key guaranteeing a Game 7 after Game 5.

He was right, he's becoming a star and the league is so much more entertaining for all of it.

"Tkachuk's an outstanding hockey player," Montgomery said. "We didn't contain him."

"Matthew Tkachuk," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice started, then paused. "He hangs onto that puck like nobody else can. Then it comes in heavy. (Tkachuk) goes to the net, screen, bar down (in overtime). All three kinds of components of great players."

Tkachuk ended the series with five goals and 11 points in seven games, more confidence than ever and the reputation of a big-game player. He's thriving in Florida, and as much of a collapse as this series was for the Bruins, it would be disrespectful and flat-out inaccurate to leave Tkachuk's prowess out of the narrative.

Before we begin this mildly hot take, we must acknowledge that we haven't gotten the full injury report yet. Ullmark was a game-time decision early in the series and decided to play. Something is obviously going on there.

You cannot point to Ullmark as the main reason for the series loss, especially considering Jeremy Swayman got the nod in Game 7. But much like how we aren't blaming Bergeron or Krejčí, Boston needed more from all three who had been so consistent throughout the regular season.

Ullmark made costly blunders, including misplaying the puck in overtime of Game 5, that kept Florida alive. He also gave up four or more goals three times this series.

The goals allowed weren't entirely his fault, but that's normally not a winning formula for a team with Stanley Cup dreams.

Does one play—the overtime blunder in Game 5—really take away from the historic regular season Ullmark had? Had he been sharper, Boston may have gone on to win the series in five games instead of playing all seven. But that would also require the rest of the team to do its job and not leave him out to dry by making the costly turnovers we mentioned earlier.

The Presidents' Trophy curse is an interesting quandary. We can theorize about why so many excellent regular-season teams end up imploding during the playoffs only to come back in the next few postseasons and thrive. Lack of pressure? The element of chance in the playoffs getting the best of a good team? More experience? Desperation?

It's all of that and then some, and the Panthers are feeling it now. But they're also really, really, good as the even-strength analytics revealed, and we cannot talk about the Bruins' collapse without tipping our hat. The Panthers were tough, they were in the faces of Boston's top players and they had the best players on the ice in the latter half of the series.

"I thought that that (Sam) Bennett line was pretty dominant, Tkachuk's an outstanding hockey player, and we didn't contain him, you know," Montgomery said. "I thought, they always changed the momentum back to them every time they were on the ice."

All of that is true, and we haven't even mentioned the legend that is Brandon Montour. Five goals and eight points in seven games as a defenseman. Two goals in a Game 7? Not a bad day's work.

The Panthers are good, they deserved to win and should have a fun Round 2 up next against the newly un-cursed Leafs.