What Went Wrong: Bruins Ousted in Six Despite Game Effort

Last season was absolute hell for the Boston Bruins. The year before that year saw them in Round 2, but they would somehow crash and burn last year. Nothing was going right for them, and with their season over, the Bruins dealt away the last longtime piece left, Brad Marchand. They were starting over, kind of. They still had David Pastrnak, they still had Jeremy Swayman, but as far as any and all playoff aspirations, well, they appeared to be shot.

Until they weren't.

Somehow, the Bruins won their way to the playoffs this year, basically playing with house money, yet managing to go somewhere. The Bruins went up against the Buffalo Sabres in a battle between old Adams Division foes. This was a hotly contested series, which began with a split in Buffalo, but the trip to Boston was not a good one, as the Sabres won both games in Beantown. The Bruins picked up an OT victory in Buffalo, but they ran out of gas in Game Six at home.

So the Bruins' surprise playoff appearance was short-lived; a six game defeat in the opening round. However, they have nothing to be ashamed of. They weren't expected to make it to the dance, but they did. The only thing that went wrong for the Bruins is that the Sabres were just too much for them. That's all.

It may be a different Bruins team, but one thing hasn't changed: they still have that good helping of Pasta. What made this year's team interesting is that while Pastrnak did achieve a 100-point season, he wasn't putting in 40 or 50 goals this year. Pasta was their points leader during this playoff run, though, finishing with seven points (3G/4A) in six games. One of those points was Pasta's second career playoff OT winner in Game Five, so as usual, Pasta did his thing. Morgan Geekie, who was the team's goals leader this year, finished with four points (two of each). Viktor Arvidsson and Elias Lindholm each had two goals in the series, and while Pavel Zacha only had the one goal, it was the one that won Game Two.

The Bruins are still looking for that next great run since 2019, the year where they fell one win short of the Stanley Cup. The 2020 bubble saw them ousted in the second round, with that same fate befalling them a year later during 2021's playoffs. In 2022, the Bruins were ousted in Round 1 by the Carolina Hurricanes, while the following year was the dream season. 65 wins, 135 points, but they were eliminated early by the upstart Florida Panthers. 2024, their last postseason before this year, saw them advance, but the Panthers were their dead end for the second straight year.

As I mentioned before, the Bruins have nothing to be ashamed of. They were not expected to be in this year's Sweet 16, but they made it. They also made it a series against a very strong Buffalo Sabres team, so one has to believe that the Bruins could be back in the playoffs next season. Regarding a Cup window, well, that's realistically impossible. They'll need to make a lot of daring moves in the offseason in order to get into heavyweight Cup contention. Right now, it looks like the Bruins are taking this thing season by season, but it could lead to something good if they keep making good additions. Again, right now, they should be proud for exceeding a few expectations, but now that they've made it, they are expected to make it back next year.