The Boston Bruins never will know what would have happened if they had better timing against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The B's now must switch into offseason mode after their 2021-22 season ended Saturday on a 3-2 loss to the 'Canes in Game 7 of their first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series. Small mistakes plagued the Bruins on either side of the first intermission, and they lacked the offensive surge necessary to overcome the Hurricanes' stout defense for all most of the game.
Afterward, Bruce Cassidy lamented the Bruins' costly defensive errors and their inability to reverse the tide of the game with timely goal scoring.
"It's a common theme. We find ourselves in all-alone early (to) get the first goal and big time save by (Hurricanes goaltender Antti) Raanta," Cassidy said at a postgame press coverage, as seen on NESN's "Bruins Postgame Final: Eastern Conference First Round." "If we if we bury that two-on-one things might change in a game like today when it's hard to score. They don't give you much. (Had Boston scored) You get the lead, a little adversity now on their part, they've had you know they've had their way in this building, but didn't work out that way and again we end up then having some breakdowns..
"(We) pride ourselves in D-zone coverage, stuff we've done very well all year and two breakdowns ... . They make plays but (it's) more on us not to get the job done defensively, be in the right spots, good stick, so that's probably where I'm most disappointed. That's how it ends up that we give up goals on something we ... (in) game 89 (of the season) And we pride ourselves on that have done a very good job from top-to-bottom alignment, no matter who's in and obviously credit to them for finishing those plays when we weren't in the right spot."
Here are more notes from Bruins-Hurricanes Game 7:
-- Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron is proud of the team for overcoming a slow start to the series to push the Hurricanes to the brink, mirroring the arc of Boston's season.
" ... There's something to be proud of the way that you know we we battled," Bergeon said at a postgame press conference, as seen on NESN's "Bruins Postgame Final: Eastern Conference First Round." I think that's something we've done all year to be honest with you. And we started off a little slow this year, and the series has gone the same. We battled our way back and and played the tough hockey we need to play to advance, but tonight we came up short and obviously we needed a little more."
-- Playing in his 13th career Game 7, Bergeron moved up to sixth place on the all-time points list in elimination games via his assist on Jake DeBrusk's goal in the second period, per the NHL.
Bergeron "(6-5--11 in 13 GP) tied Jaromir Jagr and Glenn Anderson for sixth place on the all-time #Game7 points list while also surpassing Paul Stastny for the most such points among all active skaters," the NHL wrote in a tweet.
-- Bergeron will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason. He told reporters it's far too early to make any decisions about his future.
"It's too early right now," he said, as seen in a video the Bruins provided. " ... It's too fresh right now. It still stings, obviously, from a hard-fought series. We came up short. Obviously I'm going to have to think about it but I'm not there right now."
-- An emotional Bruins left wing Brad Marchand revealed a particularly painful aspect of Boston's Game 7 loss to Carolina.
"That's why this one probably hurts more," he said, as heard in team-provided audio. "The unknown for next year with him (Bergeron). He has done so much for this group and sacrificed so much that it would have been nice to make a good run for him, so it's disappointing."
-- The Hurricanes are good at this Game 7 thing. The win over the Boston was the sixth consecutive Game 7 win for Carolina, dating back to 2006, per the NHL.
