The team was a bit of a mystery all season long due to a myriad of reasons. There were injuries to stars, an uncertain goaltending situation and, above all, goal-scoring woes that plagued the offense.
Yet somehow, the Bruins advanced past the best goalie in the world and the Buffalo Sabres before coming within one overtime goal of reaching the conference finals for the first time since 1992. As dreary as the outlook for the team looked at various points throughout the season, that was quite the feat.
They were unable to get it done, but in losing a hard-fought, seven-game series to the eventual Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia Flyers, the Bruins showed they weren’t that far away from playing for Lord Stanley’s Cup for the first time since 1990.
So what is it that the Bruins need to get over that hump?
They’re guaranteed to benefit from the experience gained by the young players in this past postseason run. Tuukka Rask flamed out a bit toward the end of the Philadelphia series, and the 23-year-old learned countless lessons with each period played in the playoffs. Patrice Bergeron, still technically a youngster at age 24, stepped into a major leadership role throughout the playoffs, registering 11 points and a plus-4 rating. Had David Krejci not gone down with a broken wrist in Game 3 of the Philly series, the 24-year-old may have tallied more points than Bergeron.
The Bruins also watched Johnny Boychuck — he of a grand total of 56 NHL games before the playoffs began — easily slide into the top defensive pairing and excel. He had six points and averaged the second-most minutes per game, behind only Zdeno Chara, one of the NHL’s biggest workhorses. They even got a boost from Dennis Wideman, who — despite a disappointing regular season — led the team in the playoffs with 12 points.
So with Marc Savard and Milan Lucic coming back at 100 percent (barring any disaster), what do the Bruins need? They’re already locked in to get a budding superstar in either Tyler Seguin or Taylor Hall, and they’re bringing back top-two defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, so there’s reason for optimism.
But will that be enough?
That question, of course, can’t be answered, and it could perplex GM Peter Chiarelli and head coach Claude Julien for the duration of the season, just as it did this past year. Still, the Bruins should be encouraged by the fact that not only did the Flyers make it to the Stanley Cup Finals, but they pushed it to overtime in Game 6.
Things didn’t end well for the Bruins this spring, but they at least have the knowledge that they’re not far away from playing for a championship.
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