The road to the Stanley Cup 2010

[lon3lytoaster]

Not much of a hockey fan but how big of choke is the philly/bos series? 4 straight losses and leading 3-0 in game 7.

I would be peeved if that happened to the C's.

Peeved? I think the blog would self destruct and most of us would go into a reclusive life in the jungles of Africa and Brazil.

[budMovin]

The Bruins just lost whatever hope they had at having the same relevance as the other three teams in town. Bruins don't have enough die-hard fans to weather this major letdown. I will certainly be disappointed when I'm talking to myself in the break room at work when I bring up the Bruins next season. Hall/Seguin better have a monster season next year if we are to garner any sort of interest that the past two seasons did. Too bad... I'm already sick of baseball and it is mid-May. Thank god the Celtics really pulled through in the playoffs (were they using San Antonio's method of phoning it in the last month or so of the season to rest the team for a deep playoff run?).

Does the Bruins losing in this fashion catalyze the city's love and respect for the Celtics the rest of the post-season?

Oh and to rank this collapse I would say that it is not AS bad at the Yanks in '04 because we didn't lay down and die in game 7 nor did we lose against our nemesis. At least we showed up for the first half of the game. Imagine how bad this would have looked if this happened in the conference championship...to the Habs.

[CelticSooner]

Not much of a hockey fan but how big of choke is the philly/bos series? 4 straight losses and leading 3-0 in game 7.

I would be peeved if that happened to the C's.

Peeved? I think the blog would self destruct and most of us would go into a reclusive life in the jungles of Africa and Brazil.

Oh I agree. I didn't  say peeved btw. lol

[LB3533]

I actually don't think the Bruins really collapsed in this series.

Game 7 was surely a collapse, but not the series as a whole.

When the series started the two teams were pretty evenly matched. Games 1 and 2 could have gone either way.

Game 4 the Flyers got back Gagne and it changed the series, especially when the Bruins were already suffering from the loss of David Krejci & Marco Sturm.

Add in rookie goal tender Tukka Rask, who got weaker as the playoffs went on, it just didn't bode well for the Bruins.

Bottom line the Flyers got stronger and healthier in the last 4 games of the series while the Bruins got weaker and just couldn't put the Flyers away.

[Roy Hobbs]

The Bruins just lost whatever hope they had at having the same relevance as the other three teams in town. Bruins don't have enough die-hard fans to weather this major letdown. I will certainly be disappointed when I'm talking to myself in the break room at work when I bring up the Bruins next season. Hall/Seguin better have a monster season next year if we are to garner any sort of interest that the past two seasons did. Too bad... I'm already sick of baseball and it is mid-May. Thank god the Celtics really pulled through in the playoffs (were they using San Antonio's method of phoning it in the last month or so of the season to rest the team for a deep playoff run?).

Does the Bruins losing in this fashion catalyze the city's love and respect for the Celtics the rest of the post-season?

Oh and to rank this collapse I would say that it is not AS bad at the Yanks in '04 because we didn't lay down and die in game 7 nor did we lose against our nemesis. At least we showed up for the first half of the game. Imagine how bad this would have looked if this happened in the conference championship...to the Habs.

I disagree.  The majority of the Bruins' viewing public is made up of front-runners (just like the majority of any fanbase's viewing public).  There are the committed diehards who will be stunned by this, but most Boston fans will do what they do every year:  they'll see if the Bruins are any good, and if they are, they'll follow them.

I mean, if the team is in the ECF next year, do you really think people will say "no thanks, a Boston team is on the verge of the Stanley Cup but I have better things to do?"  I don't think so.

[Roy Hobbs]

Add in rookie goal tender Tukka Rask, who got weaker as the playoffs went on, it just didn't bode well for the Bruins.

Yeah, it wouldn't have necessarily helped, but I was hoping that they'd give Thomas a shot in Game 5 or 6, just to give Rask a rest.  Of course, moves like that can easily backfire, so I see why it didn't happen.

Even though this will forever be considered a choke, it really is amazing how a few inches one way or the other could have re-defined this series.  So many shots hit the post, etc.  The Bruins just didn't get many breaks in the last four games, and with their injuries, they couldn't overcome.

[Redz]

I think what makes this easier to swallow is that the Bruins aren't that great a team.  They had a tremendous opportunity for an unexpected trip to the Conference Final, but really they snuck into the playoffs with a record that doesn't generally get you there.

It was a bigass choke, no doubt, but the future is bright for the B's.

I equate this collapse to the Celtics/Nets in East Finals.

[nickagneta]

Boston lost Kreijci and Sturm while Philly got back Gagne all within a game or so. Those player addition and subtractions completely turned this series around. And let's not forget we are talking the 7th seed coming back to beat the 6th seed in the quarterfinals of a 16 team tournament. This wasn't the ALCS with the two best teams facing off against each other. The Bruins were a very flawed team that suddenly became offensively handicapped by injuries.

They were a 6th seed losing to a 7th seed after they were decimated by injuries offensively. What's Pittsburgh's and Washington's excuse? Both are powerhouse teams that were healthy that couldn't hold 3-2 and 3-1 series leads over an 8th seeded Montreal team. I find their losses this post season more astonishing than the Bruin's series loss to Philly.

[dark_lord]

B's had them and choked.

up 3-0 in the first.....and they do what they always do, not finish a period strong.  result, philly score towards the end of the first and makes it 3-1

2nd period was terrible.

3rd period.....a bonehead penalty for too many men leads to the game winning goal for philly.

so disappointing and embarassing!

[Donoghus]

Well with the Bruins out after a historical disappointment, I guess its these guys for me the rest of the way.  Break the drought in the Windy City.

[PosImpos]

Boston lost Kreijci and Sturm while Philly got back Gagne all within a game or so. Those player addition and subtractions completely turned this series around. And let's not forget we are talking the 7th seed coming back to beat the 6th seed in the quarterfinals of a 16 team tournament. This wasn't the ALCS with the two best teams facing off against each other. The Bruins were a very flawed team that suddenly became offensively handicapped by injuries.

They were a 6th seed losing to a 7th seed after they were decimated by injuries offensively. What's Pittsburgh's and Washington's excuse? Both are powerhouse teams that were healthy that couldn't hold 3-2 and 3-1 series leads over an 8th seeded Montreal team. I find their losses this post season more astonishing than the Bruin's series loss to Philly.

No! Come on!  You have to make this a huge historic major occurrence!  This has to be the biggest comeback ever because otherwise nobody will pay attention because people don't really care about hockey!  It's not possible that there could have been bigger upsets this year let alone in the past twenty or thirty years!

[Mike-Dub]

Boston lost Kreijci and Sturm while Philly got back Gagne all within a game or so. Those player addition and subtractions completely turned this series around. And let's not forget we are talking the 7th seed coming back to beat the 6th seed in the quarterfinals of a 16 team tournament. This wasn't the ALCS with the two best teams facing off against each other. The Bruins were a very flawed team that suddenly became offensively handicapped by injuries.

They were a 6th seed losing to a 7th seed after they were decimated by injuries offensively. What's Pittsburgh's and Washington's excuse? Both are powerhouse teams that were healthy that couldn't hold 3-2 and 3-1 series leads over an 8th seeded Montreal team. I find their losses this post season more astonishing than the Bruin's series loss to Philly.

No! Come on!  You have to make this a huge historic major occurrence!  This has to be the biggest comeback ever because otherwise nobody will pay attention because people don't really care about hockey!  It's not possible that there could have been bigger upsets this year let alone in the past twenty or thirty years!

Tons of people do care about hockey!  Just not as much people as the other three of the big four leagues, but you are right this collapse was friggen HUGE!

[nickagneta]

Boston lost Kreijci and Sturm while Philly got back Gagne all within a game or so. Those player addition and subtractions completely turned this series around. And let's not forget we are talking the 7th seed coming back to beat the 6th seed in the quarterfinals of a 16 team tournament. This wasn't the ALCS with the two best teams facing off against each other. The Bruins were a very flawed team that suddenly became offensively handicapped by injuries.

They were a 6th seed losing to a 7th seed after they were decimated by injuries offensively. What's Pittsburgh's and Washington's excuse? Both are powerhouse teams that were healthy that couldn't hold 3-2 and 3-1 series leads over an 8th seeded Montreal team. I find their losses this post season more astonishing than the Bruin's series loss to Philly.

No! Come on!  You have to make this a huge historic major occurrence!  This has to be the biggest comeback ever because otherwise nobody will pay attention because people don't really care about hockey!  It's not possible that there could have been bigger upsets this year let alone in the past twenty or thirty years!

Tons of people do care about hockey!  Just not as much people as the other three of the big four leagues, but you are right this collapse was friggen HUGE!

I think tongue was firmly planted in cheek with a load of sarcasm when PosImpos made that post.

[Donoghus]

I know most people on here are probably done with hockey this season after what happened with the Bruins but there's still some pretty solid stuff going on in these playoffs.

-MTL had a big win tonight to make it a series with Philly.

-Chicago is 2 wins away from playing for the Stanley Cup for the first time in nearly 20 years while they haven't won a Cup since '60-61.  It's a pretty big deal for the Blackhawks.

-The potential still exists for an Original Six Stanley Cup Final (MTL-CHI) which hasn't happened since the 1970s.

[LB3533]

Don't flame me, but I am rooting for the Flyers.