Rewind to October 2017, and imagine thinking the Boston Bruins falling in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs would feel like a disappointment of sorts.
Fast forward to Sunday, and the reality is this Bruins teams exceeded initial expectations in a big way. They turned from being viewed as a developing team to a legitimate Stanley Cup contender over the course of mere months, missing out on winning the Atlantic Division by one point.
When framed that way, it’s easy to see that the future of this squad is bright, even after falling in five games to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference semifinals with Sunday’s 3-1 loss at Amalie Arena.
Over the course of this season, the fusion of the Bruins’ longtime core of Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Krejci and Tuukka Rask meshed well with the future core, which is what made them such a unique team to watch and equally difficult to play against.
Players like Charlie McAvoy and Jake DeBrusk proved they’re NHL-ready players, and capable even on big stages. Guys like Danton Heinen and Matt Grzelcyk put together tremendous rookie campaigns as well, even with the bumps along the way.
And barring trades, these guys are going to be in Boston for the foreseeable future.
Bergeron and Marchand both have three more years left on their contracts. Chara, though 41 years old, is locked in for next year. All the above-mentioned youngsters still are on their rookie deals, with other rookies like Ryan Donato and Anders Bjork also likely to be a more stable part of the equation next season. Rask — one of the NHL’s top goaltenders — is signed through the 2020-21 season.
Given how Game 1 of the Bolts series went, Boston being eliminated just four games and eight days later is hard to digest. But this group is here to stay, and the future looks quite bright.
Here are some other notes from Bruins-Lightning:
— David Backes left Game 5 in the second period after his head was hit in a heavy collision with Lightning winger J.T. Miller. The 34-year-old was on the ice for a few minutes before being helped up and off the ice and down the tunnel by teammates and team staff.
Following the game, head coach Bruce Cassidy had no further information on if Backes — who has a history of head injuries — sustained a concussion. He classified it as an upper-body injury and noted a report would come out at some point.
— Rask played solid in Game 5 and helped keep the Bruins in the game. He turned away 19 shots, including a few quality opportunities for the Lightning that would have put the game out of reach earlier in the contest.
The B’s netminder also had a few smart passes late in the game. He did a quality job sending some outlet passes up the ice to help the Bruins get out of their own zone, something they struggled mightily with throughout the game against Tampa’s forecheck.
— If there was any question of Chara’s effectiveness as a top-pairing defenseman at his age, this stat should put that issue to bed.
— The Bruins have 12 players set to become unrestricted free agents this offseason: Rick Nash, Nick Holden, Anton Khudobin, Riley Nash, Kenny Agostino, Tim Schaller, Tommy Wingels, Paul Postma, Brian Gionta, Austin Czarnik, Tommy Cross and Chris Breen.
Sean Kuraly, Matt Grzelcyk and Justin Hickman are arbitration-eligible restricted free agents, while Colby Cave and Anton Blindh are restricted free agents.
