Bruins season ends in 3-2 loss to Carolina in Game 7

Final Game Highlights.

Scoring began late in the first as Teuvo Teravainen found space out in front to pop the puck in behind Jeremy Swayman on a tip-in late, ending the period 1-0.

The pain would continue as Max Domi got his first career playoff goal by threading the puck through a Bruin and also an unwitting Swayman, who I’m not sure ever saw it until it was way too late. 2-0.

Jake DeBrusk showed he didn’t want to go home early, and got the B’s on the board. 2-1.

Then Domi scored again...

And for most of the rest of the game, the Canes managed to hold that lead up until the very end...when David Pastrnak scored just a little too late for it to really matter.

The Bruins couldn’t finish the comeback, and The Bruins fall in Seven Games to the Carolina Hurricanes by a score of 3-2.

Series and Final Season Notes:

• At all situations, Charlie McAvoy played almost 150 minutes of playoff hockey, and is your TOI leader for the series for Boston and honestly was in the top 2 of minutes eaters all series. Only Jaccob Slavin played more.
• Let’s get one thing clear: by possession, the Bruins were the better team. But the thing about being the better team is that you need to finish. The Bruins had it and then some for games where they were at home and had the last change, they could get their stars chugging and a couple. Read. couple...of depth guys to score. That’s not news. The problem was getting those players to score on the road, and to match the kind of pace that the Canes showed all regular season matchups and all throughout these playoffs. Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak fought like hell and had individually rough games throughout, but Pasta’s late goal in this final game only starred and underlined a reality of the team: when the chips are down, they are ultimately the arbiters of fate for the Boston Bruins as of right now. They were playoff scorers one, two and three. Like clockwork. Regardless of dumb penalties, regardless of forced plays and awkward assignments. They showed up and set the tone even in games they didn’t play well in. I think it bares repeating when I say that they desperately need help. They got a little of it this year...but not nearly enough. This was the case throughout the regular season, it’s the case in the playoffs.
• Jake DeBrusk, man. There’s a reason people aren’t a fan of him, and I can’t really say anything to change your mind...but when he rises to the occasion, you start to realize what Don Sweeney saw in him during That Draft We’re Not Going To Bring Up. He showed up ready to do work in these playoffs, and if this is it between this player and this team, I say I genuinely thank him for being a Bruin, because as Bruins go, he was pretty good. Maybe not a great, but definitely good enough.
• Lines three and four, as well as pairings three and one half of pairing two got caved in at even strength throughout the playoffs. That isn’t news to the point that I’m writing 1200 words on it anymore, but it is kind of maddening.
• While I’m not going out of my way to call any professional organization that employs Max Domi or Tony DeAngelo classy in any way, let’s hand it to the Canes for the one thing they did show up with: A Plan. They showed up and did exactly what they did in the regular season: used depth and (let’s face it) superior defense to out-possess the Boston Bruins in ways that mattered, and more importantly took advantage of inexperienced goaltending at the postseason level...oh yeah and got more out of their depth than the B’s did. They had faith in what they’re doing, and in a series that Boston largely controlled possession for, they controlled pace just as well. And pace can be all the difference at the end.
• Jeremy Swayman showed that he is capable of being a playoff goalie if given the right tools and the right effort. He also showed that he has a bunch of glaring flaws in his game that coaching, an actual decent-length offseason for recovery, and hard painful experiences like an elimination game will help him understand and fix. The point of being the Future is that you’re building for what will eventually be the Present, and that takes time, and a lot of lessons learned. Swayman will get there, I’m convinced of that, but it’s going to take time. One playoff series loss isn’t going to be the arbiter of his entire career. No more than Linus Ullmark’s.
• I’m not going to read into the entire team hugging Bergeron as he left the ice. It’s just as well that they hoped to win it for him to clinch a hall of fame candidacy or a team playoff milestone. He’s the grizzled vet of this roster, it’s only natural that you’d want to comfort your captain after he once again ran this show the best he could and still couldn’t get what you wanted. We’re not ready for the alternative yet. None of us are. You think you’re ready because you’re mad and you feel like change is inevitable. But you’re not ready. So we’ll get there when we get there.
• Can’t help but wonder what this team would be like if Zboril was healthy...
• There’s a big offseason ahead of this team. Change, whether good or bad, could be a huge part of it.

And hey. Thanks for watching these games alongside us this year. I know you’re going through it with the loss, but we can at least have a place to go through it together. Thanks for making this the best community under SBNation’s brand. From myself, Dan, Angelina who is a rockstar and a workhorse rolled into one, Dan Schulman dutifully covering the minor league teams, Nathan covering Boston women’s collegiate and professional hockey, Chris pulling up highlights and stats of interest, and all our all our writers past and present...we thank you kindly for reading, and hope you continue to do so.

Let’s Go Bruins!