In the end, the Boston Bruins were simply never able to get to their game on home ice in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and it cost them dearly.
The B’s played three quality games on the road in Buffalo and won two of them after blowing a third-period lead in Game 1, but they were outscored 12-3 in the three games played at TD Garden before finally bowing out in Game 6, by a 4-1 score, on home ice on Friday night.
The Bruins had a limp opening 20 minutes, falling behind 2-0 and outshot 12-6, keeping to their home playoff script of poor starts followed by chasing the game. It was diametrically opposite to the NHL-best 29-11-1 record the Bruins posted at TD Garden during the regular season, and it played into a brutally bad 3-11 record in their last 14 home postseason games over the last four playoffs.
Like it or not, that is a reflection on core Bruins players like Hampus Lindholm, Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha, and Jeremy Swayman, who have been around Boston for a while, and a consistent inability to execute in a setting where the Bruins should be wheeling and dealing. It wasn’t about James Hagens being in the lineup or not, and it didn’t even come down to Swayman’s brilliance in the end.
Instead, it was simply about Boston’s best players failing across the board to get it done on home ice in front of Bruins fans hungry for playoff wins.
Marco Sturm acknowledged that the Bruins players were probably feeling some pressure to prove something on home ice at this point, but it didn’t translate into anything good aside from a Pastrnak one-timer goal in the second period.
“We didn’t think on the road…it was much easier. We know it’s a little bit, maybe the pressure. I don’t know…I’m not sure. I’m just talking about what I feel and what I think. I thought we felt the pressure of being at home, especially after the last [blowout loss],” said Sturm. “Who do we feel the pressure? Because guys care. They care and they wanted to prove people wrong, and I think sometimes that gets in your way.
“I think that’s what happened a little bit. We never got in the flow. Buffalo played good. They played solid. It’s not lack of effort or lack of attitude. These guys care. They’re here for a reason and played a hell of a season because of that character we have in that room. Unfortunately, we just came up short.”
It was Zacha, Pastrnak, and McAvoy who all finished at minus-3 in the Game 6 loss, and that left McAvoy with a minus-7 with one assist in three home playoff games in this first-round series against the Sabres. And Pastrnak with one point and a minus-8 in the three games at TD Garden in the playoffs as well. Zacha enjoyed a breakout 30-goal campaign during the regular season that played a massive role in Boston’s wild-card regular season, but he also finished with just an assist and a minus-6 in three games in Boston during the first round series.
The killer sequence for the Bruins in Game 6 was an offensive zone faceoff that they won in the third period, but Hampus Lindholm and Pastrnak weren’t on the same page for a drop pass at the offensive blue line. It quickly turned into a turnover with Josh Doan winning a puck battle in the corner and fed Zach Benson for a wide-open goal in front with McAvoy and Pastrnak both chasing after the puck and then failing to win the battle when it was a 2-on-1 advantage for the Bruins in the puck battle.
“We made a couple of mistakes that ended up in their net. They’re just too skilled to do that,” said Pastrnak. “We almost tied it up and then Hammer and I made a mistake and that goal was big. Sad and disappointing. Proud of the group. We fought all year and made it to the playoffs. Yeah…sucks.”
The bottom line for the Bruins in this playoff series was that their best players were not
