It’s the NHL playoffs and the Boston Bruins are once again putting their fans through hell. The Bruins like to make the playoffs notoriously difficult not only on themselves but also on their devoted fans.
In the 2010 N.H.L. playoffs the Bruins were a six seed matching up against a very solid Buffalo team (three seed) in the first round. Buffalo was riding high on their hotter than the sun goaltender Ryan Miller. Miller had recently thrown team U.S.A. on his back and carried them to an epic showdown with Canada and a silver medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Needless to say he was the toast of the town for American hockey fans.
Miller was no match for the workmanlike Bruins who defeated the Sabres in six games to move onto the second round where they would face the Philadelphia Flyers. With eight seeded Montreal having knocked out the favored Washington Capitals, the Bruins had a legitimate shot to take a run at the Stanley Cup. Things looked promising as they jumped to a 3-0 series lead on Philadelphia. Then, the Bruins commenced one of the greatest collapses in sports history. Boston fans got a taste of their own medicine as the Flyers stormed back from a three game hole to win the series in seven games. This was only the third time in N.H.L. history that a team had blown a three game lead in the playoffs.
Boston fans were of course on the other side of this when the Red Sox came back from down 3-0 to beat the New York Yankees in 2004 and eventually win the World Series.
In 2011 the Bruins were the Stanley Cup Champions but not without a little heartache on behalf of their fans. Over the course of the playoffs the Bruins would play three game sevens on their way to the cup, including in the finals themselves against the Vancouver Canucks. The Bruins were the first team to win three game seven en route to the Stanley Cup.
In 2012 fans were subject to more disappointment. The Bruins proved that it’s difficult to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions by bowing out in the first round to the Washington Capitals, but not without giving fans a little bit of hope only to rip it away at the last second. The Bruins, as the two seed, were the favorites to win the series. It would go the full seven games, including four overtime games, one of which went into double overtime.
This season’s playoffs appear to be more of the same. Boston came in as the favorite over a Toronto Maple Leafs team that hasn’t been to the playoffs in nine years. But, in typical Bruins fashion the fate of the season will ride on one game. Game seven tonight, May 13th, in Boston. After trailing the series 3-1, Toronto has fought back admirably to tie the series and give themselves a chance to move onto the second round and take on the winner of the New York Rangers/Washington Capitals series (also in a game seven tonight).
The Bruins are known for their blue collar effort, thriving on physical play and being the big, bad Bruins. I guess no one told them that they don’t have to make things so hard on themselves and their fans every year just because it’s the playoffs.
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