The Boston Bruins Manage To Lose Twice In The Same Night

Mar 27, 2013; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40) ends up on his back after Montreal Canadiens right wing Brendan Gallagher (not pictured) scores a goal during the shootout at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Well, my night was going great last night. The Boston Bruins were up 4-2 on the division rival Montreal Canadiens headed into the 3rd period and every hockey reporter in North America was reporting that Calgary Flames captain and future Hall of Famer, Jarome Iginla, was about to be traded to the Bruins. I mean come on, does it get any better than this?

Then, like it only can in Boston, it all came crumbling down.

The pesky Canadiens refused to go quietly into the good night and roared back against the Bruins to force overtime before eventually defeating Boston 1-0 in the shootout to complete the 6-5 comeback win. Did I mention with the win Montreal also took back first place in the Northeast Division? Well, that happened too.

However, the sting of yet another Bruins 3rd period collapse was quelled with the information and reports that the Bruins were about to acquire an all-world player in Iginla.

I must say it’s the happiest I’ve seen a Bruins locker room after a loss, especially an ugly loss to Montreal no less. Milan Lucic was smiling while talking about how Iginla was his hero growing up and even Brad Marchand referred to Iginla as a legend and that the Bruins would be very lucky/happy to have him.

It was in the bag, the Bruins had added Iginla and were keeping pace with the Pittsburgh Penguins who already had players like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, yet were able to add players like Douglas Murray and Brenden Morrow in the past week without giving up anything of value from their current roster.

Then, just like the 2-points the Bruins could’ve taken away from Montreal, it all disappeared.

Shortly after the Calgary Flames game ended, Flames GM Jay Feaster said he had an announcement and everyone on Twitter was saying get ready for a surprise. All I thought was maybe the Bruins were able to land Iginla and snag someone else from Calgary. It never even entered my mind that Iginla could’ve been traded somewhere else besides Boston, but unfortunately for me, thats exactly what had just happened.

The Penguins and GM Ray Shero had slid in during the early hours of Thursday morning and taken Iginla for themselves. The Penguins would be sending prospects Kenneth Agostino and Ben Hanowski plus their 2013 first round draft pick to Calgary in exchange for Iginla’s services.

Everyone was stunned. Penguins fans, Flames fans, Bruins fans, NHL fans and hockey reporters alike all dropped their collective jaw at the news that Iginla was headed to Pittsburgh and not Boston.

How could a team already so stacked, land a stud like Iginla? It’s not supposed to happen in this age of hard salary caps, yet it just happened and the Bruins were left empty handed for the second time in the same night.

Pittsburgh, a team that was already heavily favored to win the Stanley Cup managed to get even better today without even giving up a single roster player or even one of their more highly touted prospects.

Tough day to be a Flames or Bruins fan, great day to be a Pittsburgh Penguins fan.