It's rare for a team to have a missed opportunity so massive that the entire league can have a beef with them, but that is where the Boston Bruins still stand three years after the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The NHL's greatest regular season team entered that postseason with a ton of momentum as the favorites to win the Stanley Cup, but after taking a 3-1 lead over the Florida Panthers, they lost three consecutive games to fail to make it past the first round.
It was a missed opportunity for the organization, as they squandered the opportunity for Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci to have one more Stanley Cup run. The team recovered and advanced to the second round again the following season, but they were never going to be the quality of that team that broke so many records during the 2022-23 regular season.
While it was a missed opportunity for the organization at the time, it became an even greater missed opportunity to kill the monster that Florida became before it began. That Panthers team advanced to the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Vegas Golden Knights, and then defeated the Edmonton Oilers the next two years to win back-to-back Stanley Cups.
If the Bruins had settled in and advanced past the Panthers, it's hard to argue that they might've gone all the way that season. If they did, Bergeron and Krejci would've added one more Stanley Cup to their legacy before retiring, and their careers might not have included as many "what ifs" as they do now. Not to mention, the Golden Knights wouldn't have a Stanley Cup yet, which might've changed the outlook of their team.
The same goes for the Panthers, as they might've made some big changes if they suffered a first-round exit in 2023. They likely wouldn't be the force they became off the momentum of that 3-1 comeback, which would've changed things dramatically in the Atlantic Division.
Would Connor McDavid now have a Stanley Cup after losing in back-to-back years to the Panthers? Would a different Atlantic Division team, like the Toronto Maple Leafs, have found a way to go on a deeper run without the Panthers there? Would Brad Marchand still be a Bruin, content with a second Stanley Cup with the black and gold in 2023?
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