The Boston Bruins had a chance to take their destiny back in to their own hands today. To say that they failed is an understatement. The B’s were obliterated by the Ottawa Senators 6-1, dooming them for the 2015-16 season. For the second straight year, the Black and Gold were the last NHL team to be eliminated from the postseason.
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“It’s unacceptable, the way that we showed up, and you can’t win games if you do that,” said forward and alternate captain Patrice Bergeron. “So, we got it coming I guess, by not showing up. We did score the first goal, and we should’ve kept going at them, and we didn’t. We let them get back in the game.”
For those watching the game, Patrice Bergeron launched into a tirade halfway through the game, directing a lot of vitriol at his teammates. You saw the frustration boil over in him. The Bruins had just given up four unanswered goals, and the team seemed to collapse. At that moment, Bergeron was more of a leader for Boston than Claude Julien (who is likely putting his home up on the market).
“I don’t think there’s any words for it,” Bergeron concluded “I think we all know it’s disappointing.”
Disappointing doesn’t cover it. In less than a month, the Bruins went from being the top team in the Atlantic with an eleven point playoff cushion to being knocked out of the postseason. This is the ugliest failure to happen to the team since before Claude Julien took over, and everyone in their front office knows it. So, what happens next for the Black and Gold?
Some people place the blame for this year’s failure at the feet of Claude Julien. He’s very likely coached his last game for Boston. Some people will say that he wasn’t able to trust the young players (which is a failing in him) and he wasn’t able to make proper use of this year’s acquisitions.
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Other people place the blame of this fiasco at the feet of Cam Neely. He was the guy who signed off on all Don Sweeney‘s choices. He chose to use those three consecutive first round draft picks rather than go for something better. He signed off on the end of Milan Lucic and Dougie Hamilton. He chose to keep a very disappointing Brett Connolly.
There is also that small point of him willingly signing off on Zac Rinaldo, the first Bruins player to be suspended from the NHL and the AHL teams at the same time. I still think it was symbolic/portent of doom to flip to the month of April in the Pucks-n-Pooches calendar and see Rinaldo and Jimmy Hayes (who will likely be sticking around for next season) staring back at you.
Don Sweeney is not blameless either. Of the three executives for the Bruins mentioned, he’s the least likely one to face the firing squad. Lee Stempniak was not a bad choice. John-Michael Liles wasn’t terrible either. That being said, it’s still a matter of ‘too little, too late’ at the trade deadline.
Heads will likely roll quickly. It’s just a matter of the Bruins taking stock of their successes and opportunities and working their butts off to make sure that history does not repeat itself again on Causeway Street.