The Bruins broke multiple records in the 2022-23 NHL regular season, but they were unable to keep up their play in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Boston lost to the Florida Panthers in overtime of Game 7 after holding a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. It was a defeat that shocked players and the fans, and it’s a result that could be felt for a long time.
Team leadership spoke to reporters Tuesday in a season-end news conference, where Jim Montgomery broke down things he could have done differently in hindsight, and Bruins president Cam Neely and general manager Don Sweeney gave insight on the team’s offseason plans.
But when reflecting on Boston’s historic regular season, Neely pointed out how the Bruins surpassed preseason expectations.
“If you recall going into last season, everybody had us as a potential wild-card team, so there were zero expectations this past season — especially with the injuries we had to start the year,” Neely told reporters, as seen on NESN. “I think with the change we made with the head coach, everybody was questioning where we were going. We ended up having this historic year. My concern was OK, are the guys going to put too much pressure on themselves because of the regular season we had? And the expectations just went through the roof.
“So, I had a couple of players at the exit meeting actually apologize, saying you guys gave us a wagon of a team and we didn’t execute. Players, they know. Players know when you have a chance to win and when you don’t have a chance to win. They knew we had a chance to win and they knew we had a chance to go deep. For whatever reason, we didn’t play the way we did in the regular season. We touched on Game 3 was probably our best game, but we didn’t play the way we played in the regular season. The confidence, the nerves, (I don’t know) what it was, but these are the things we have to dig into. I just saw, and narratives start to change (when) you win the Presidents’ Trophy — teams rarely win the Stanley Cup — all those things, the outside noise, maybe creeped in a little bit for me.”
Confirmation bias set in for those on the outside when it came to the “Presidents’ Trophy curse,” but Boston’s leaders noted there were multiple reasons the Black and Gold fell short in the playoffs. It’s a result that likely will be dissected the entire summer until the start of the 2023-24 season.
Montgomery will hope to keep his squad focused next season and ensure the result of the 2022-23 season doesn’t hang over the Bruins.
