It is needless to say that the 2009-10 Boston Bruins experienced a strange odyssey. Much was expected from them coming into the season after finishing at the East’s top see the previous season. However, they traded top goal scorer Phil Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leafs for 2 1st-round draft picks. The loss of Kessel was to be made up for by the return of Marco Sturm from injury.
Many strange twists occurred. The goal scoring never materialized, as the Bruins managed only 206 goals, the worst of all 30 teams. 2009 Vezina trophy winner Tim Thomas was supplanted by uber-prospect Tukka Rask in net, and playmaker Marc Savard was lost for almost 2 months with a concussion. The team’s expectations could not have been lower.
Strangely these oddities galvanized the team towards the end of the year as they managed to capture the 6-seed in the Eastern Conference. They upset Ryan Miller and Buffalo in 6 games, and things fell into place as the 7th seeded Philadelphia Flyers upset the New Jersey Devils, which allowed the Bruins to have home ice for the 2nd round.
The Flyers were decimated with injuries, being with out their most talented player in Jeff Carter, their best playmaker in Simon Gagne, and their best penalty-killer in Ian Laperierre. The Bruins surged to a 3-0 lead in the series, despite losing Marco Sturm in game 1 and David Kreijci in Game 3. Suddenly the team with zero expectations was on the verge of going back to their first Conference Finals since 1992.
Then what happened? It all seems like a blur. A Game 4 overtime loss at Philly didn’t seem like a big deal even though Simon Gagne had made his return. As the series went back to Boston, everything seemed positive.
In game 5, the Flyers loss of goalie Brian Boucher looked like the death knell for Philly, even though Boucher had been shaky, his replacement Michael Leighton hadn’t played since March with an ankle injury. All Leighton did was shut the Bruins out on the road. The losses of Sturm and Kreijci were catching up.
In game 6 at Philly, the Bruins had the look of a shell-shocked team. They could not manage a score until the 19:00 mark of the third ending a span of 150 minutes without scoring. After losing 2-1, it had become panic time.
Game 7 in Boston, the Bruins came out to a .3-0 lead in the first and everything seemed as it should. However, after coming out like their hair was on fire, the Bruins simply burned out, blowing a 3-0 lead in both the series and the game, losing 4-3 at home in game 7 in one of the most epic collapses in sports history.
What can we take from this? GM Peter Chiarelli says there will be changes. On the promising side, their only real fear up front is losing 42-year old Mark Recchi to free agency. The emergence of Rask has made Tim Thomas expendable and could garner a decent return, and the Bruins hold the 2nd overall pick in the 2010 draft in which they will end up with either C Tyler Seguin or LW Taylor Hall, who are both ready to play at age 18 and will help infuse the offense. Sturm and Keijci will be back.
However, the defense looked asleep at times and could be in for some changes. Zdeno Chara is obviously not going anywhere, but Andrew Ference and Mark Stuart who didn’t play well in the 2nd round may be out. Dennis Seidenberg who didn’t play in the playoffs with a wrist injury is negotiating a new deal, and a full season of him could be an upgrade. Young D-men Johnny Boychuk and Matt Hunwick have improved, and even Dennis Wideman showed signs of life, so the signs aren’t all bad. Despite their epic collapse, there remains reason to be optimistic as a Bruins fan.
