Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Bruins made NHL history in the regular season, but will be watching the rest of the playoffs from home
The Boston Bruins were the best team during the NHL regular season. They won 65 games, the most in regular season history. They tallied 135 points on the season, also a record. Their efforts secured the Presidents’ Trophy, given to the team that finishes with the most points in the regular season. Boston clinched a playoff spot back on March 12, over a month before the season ended. The team they faced in the first round of the NHL playoffs, the Florida Panthers, tallied 92 points. The 43-point gap between the two teams was the largest in NHL Playoffs history in nearly 30 years. Florida clinched their postseason ticket almost a month later on April 11, in their second-to-last game of the season.
And yet the Bruins will be watching the Panthers in the second round, along with the rest of us, on television.
Florida advanced to the second round of the NHL with a 4-3 overtime win in Game 7 in Boston on Sunday night, capping off a comeback for the ages. The Panthers were down 3-1 in the series, but an overtime win in Boston in Game 5, and a win at home in Game 6, set the stage for a deciding seventh game.
And the Cardiac Cats needed a goal in the final minute of regulation just to get to OT.
Presidents’ Trophy Curse history
With the series loss, the Bruins offered yet more fodder for the idea of the Presidents’ Trophy Curse. Since the NHL began awarding the Presidents’ Trophy during the 1985-86 season, 37 teams — including the Bruins this season — secured the award. (There was no winner during the 2004-5 lockout season).
Of those 37 teams, eight went on to win the Stanley Cup.
Boston is now the eighth team to lose in the first round of the playoffs.
The last time the Presidents’ Cup winner went on to hoist the Stanley Cup? That was back during the 2012-13 season, when the Chicago Blackhawks won 36 games and finished with 77 points, during a lockout-shortened season.
They beat the Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final.
Since then, 10-straight Presidents’ Trophy winners lost before even reaching the Stanley Cup Final. Only the 2014-15 New York Rangers advanced beyond the second round, as the Rangers lost in the Eastern Conference Finals that year to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The 2013-14 Bruins, the 2015-16 and the 2016-2017 Washington Capitals, the 2017-18 Nashville Predators, the 2019-20 Bruins, the 2020-21 Colorado Avalanche, and the Panthers from a season ago, all lost in the second round.
This year’s Bruins team, however, suffered a fate that befell the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning, who also lost in the first round of the playoffs.
In fact, each time the Bruins have won the Presidents’ Trophy, they fell short of winning the Stanley Cup. Boston first won the honor during the 1989-90 season, but came up short in the Final against Mark Messier and the Edmonton Oilers. Then came the 2013-14 and 2019-20 seasons, when they were bounced in the second round each time.
And now, their early exit at the hands of the Panthers.
However, there is one Presidents’ Trophy moment that Boston fan can look upon with fondness. The 2010-11 Vancouver Canucks won the Presidents’ Trophy, but lost in the Stanley Cup Final.
To Boston.
However that is probably little solace to Bruins fans tonight, who now have to wonder about the future of the roster that the organization assembled with the clear goal of one last run at a Cup. Veterans Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci both signed one-year deals prior to the season, and goaltender Jeremy Swayman — who got the start in Game 7 — is set to be a restricted free agent.
Other notable free agents include Dmitry Orlov, Tyler Bertuzzi, Nick Foligno, and Tomas Nosek.
To that end it was notable when Bergeron and Krejci shared a long hug after the handshake line, before departing the TD Garden ice:
Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci share a long hug. A long hug with Brad Marchand at the end and a wave to the crowd. Class all the way by Patrice. A disappointing end to the Bruins season pic.twitter.com/rY73pFjZNC
— The Camera Guys (@NBCSCameraGuys) May 1, 2023
The Bruins could look a lot different in the fall, and if this indeed was the moment their window closed, becoming the latest victims of the Presidents’ Trophy Curse will sting that much more for Boston fans.
And if they manage to keep the roster together to make one final run at a title, and somehow do get close to the Presidents’ Trophy again?
Maybe resting some players and falling short of that honor makes sense for … reasons.
