BOSTON — Just like that, the Boston Bruins’ season is over.
And it was a bitter end, indeed.
The Bruins fell 4-1 to the St. Louis Blues in the decisive Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Bruins outplayed the Blues in the first period, but it was St. Louis that led 2-0 after 20 minutes. Boston never truly recovered, ultimately going down 4-0 before they scored a garbage time goal.
For five Bruins, this was their third trip to the Cup Final and the second loss. After the game, both Brad Marchand and David Krejci admitted that it was the toughest loss of their career, even more so than the gut-wrenching Game 6 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013.
“Yup. By far,” Marchand said when asked if it was the most painful loss of his career. “I’ll never get over this. I’m not over ’13 yet. This hurts more than that. It’s not something you ever forget.”
Said Krejci when asked if it was the toughest loss of his career: “Yeah. We haven’t been in the Final in a long time. Felt like it was there for us. I believed in this group every single game. I had a good feeling. Even after the first period I felt a comeback. So, yeah that’s a really tough one. Definitely hardest lost in my career for sure.
“Obviously it hurts,” Krejci later added. “But, it’s, it just hurts and it’s going to hurt for a while. Been there before, haven’t gotten over it yet. So, I don’t think I’ll ever get over this one either.”
Marchand also issued the tough reality check that this could be the last time this veteran group of Bruins makes it back to the final round. There visibly was a lot of devastation in the locker room following the game, so you certainly can’t blame any of the players if they’re unable to let this go.
