Think of what this would look like a year later if the Bruins were champions, instead of runners-up.
During a 7-1 shellacking by the Lightning in Game Three of their best-of-seven series, Bruins’ defenseman Charlie McAvoy was tossed out midway through the third period for head-hunting Lightning star Nikita Kucherov. Then with under two minutes to play forward Torrey Krug shot the puck at one of the linesmen after the Bruins were offside.
I wonder if Krug taught McAvoy how to race over 40 feet to take a run at the head of one of the opposition? I mean, Krug did it last year in Game One of the Finals and knocked Blues’ forward Robert Thomas out for the next four games with a concussion.
Combine this with Nick Ritchie getting tossed out for checking Yanni Gourde into the dasherboard from behind while the puck was about 50 feet away and you have all the makings of a team realizing their last few sands are trickling through the hourglass.
The Bruins are down 3-1 in the series to a Lightning club that is missing Steven Stamkos, who likely will not return until the Eastern Conference Finals at the earliest.
Captain Zdeno Chara only has another year or two (tops) left before retiring, currently 43 years old. Alternate captains David Krecji (34) and Patrice Bergeron (35) are certainly on the back-end of their careers as well. It makes you wonder in the back of your mind how comfortable they feel turning this team over to guys like Krug and McAvoy, if they play this reckless.
Any NHL fan will tell you David Pastrnak is the star of this franchise. There is no disputing that fact. “Pasta” is their best scorer, skater and is most marketable. His Dunkin Donuts’ commercials should be the finite evidence you would need.
Still, for every Pastrnak, there is a rat.
Ummm...I meant Brad Marchand.
Love or hate my excessive fandom of the Blues, but they gave us all the eternally engrained image of Marchand crying on the ice as the Blue Note was celebrating on the other end having captured the Stanley Cup. If Boston wins the Cup last year, I am not gloating for the last 15 months and Marchand doesn’t have his penalty shot whiff against the Flyers earlier this season (before the pandemic stoppage) be magnified all the more.
Meanwhile, Tampa already got their revenge against Columbus. The ideal they are looking now like the team that should have shown up last April when the 2019 playoffs began is all the more evident against the reigning conference champions. Their three victories so far have seen them outscore Boston 14-5 and come up a goal short in Game One, or we would all be looking at a sweep.
The Bruins and Blues both lost all three of the round-robin games in the bubble once play resumed earlier this month. The Blues are already home and preparing to return to their families. The Bruins have no home-ice argument to make, so one of these last three possible games could be the ugliest one yet.
With all these misconducts, you'd think they'd be trying to prove the current Bruins were tougher than the Broad Street Bullies and want to prove it to Philly first-hand.
Problem...they have zero shot of moving on to test that theory and Philly is on the verge of going home earlier than expected via the New York Islanders, 2020’s Cinderella playoff story.
-JC24