Even 24 hours after the the fact, the wound remains quite fresh in Boston.
The Bruins came up one win shy of raising Lord Stanley’s Cup, losing 4-1 to the St. Louis Blues in Game 7 at TD Garden.
Boston put forth an electrifying season and an exhilarating run through the postseason that came up just short. Rightfully, there is considerable disappointment over an opportunity lost. Still, there was plenty to hang their hat on from a solid season of play, and there is little reason to doubt that the Bruins will be a contender again next year.
Picking up the pieces from Game 7, the experts at ESPN offered up their “realistic expectations” for Boston in the 2019-20 season.
“Stay the course. It’s a lesson the Bruins actually applied to previous teams, like the 2011 team that eventually won the Stanley Cup and overcame that reverse sweep from the Flyers in 2010. This is a solid hockey team that still has the pieces for a championship, and a coach in Bruce Cassidy who’s proven he can lead it close to one. No one should be happy with being runner-up. Augment this personnel properly, and they won’t have to be content with that next season.”
That actually is not a bad mindset for the Bruins to take heading into the summer. Making it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final certainly means you’re as close to a championship team as you can be.
It’s going to be an interesting summer in Boston, with everyone on edge as they wait to see what Don Sweeney and Co. have planned.
