The Boston Bruins were able to force their Eastern Conference First Round series to seven games, but they were unable to advance.
The B’s lost Game 7 to the Carolina Hurricanes, a team that Boston had eliminated in both 2019 and 2020. The Bruins came into the series as underdogs, as they entered the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs in a wild card position.
Boston went 51-26-5 in the regular season, and its 107 points were the fourth-best total in the Atlantic Division. The stars were strong again in the 2021-2022 season for the Bruins. The B’s were led offensively by Brad Marchand (80 points) and David Pastrnak (40 goals).
This season was complex when it came to goaltending. After long-time starter Tuukka Rask took some time away from the team before eventually calling it quits, 23-year-old Jeremy Swayman emerged as a long-term answer in Bean Town, giving them something positive to take away from this year.
How big of a missed opportunity was this season for the Bruins?
Fast forward to the playoffs, and the Bruins quickly found themselves in a two-game hole in the series. They battled back, but were ultimately unable to steal a game in Raleigh and lost the series.
The biggest shortcoming for this year’s Boston team was the same as last year: a lack of depth. When key players like Marchand, Pastrnak, and Patrice Bergeron were only able to muster a handful of points in their four road games, no one was there to pick up the slack.
As a result, the Bruins lost their first-round series for the first time since 2017. For that reason, this year seems like an obvious step backward. In addition, the departure of Rask and the uncertain future of Bergeron demonstrates a potentially declining situation in Boston.
The Bruins had several opportunities in this series, including injuries to the goaltenders for the Canes, but could not capitalize. They played a good series, but a loss in round one is a big letdown for the B’s.
This will be an offseason worth watching in Boston, but for now, it’s disappointment for a Bruins team that feels like it is rapidly regressing from its 2019 Eastern Conference champion form.
The Grade: C