They did it again!

After Scott Walker burned the B's last year, I've spent the last 12 months of my life just assuming that the Bruins couldn't possibly find a more devastating way to end their season. I was wrong, very wrong. Turns out that not only could they find a more devastating way to lose a series, but they did it exactly one year later! I'm sure for us die-hard B's fans, May 14th isn't gonna be celebrated in the years to come. In fact I'm pretty sure that if those crazy Mayan's and their calendar are correct about the world coming to an end in 2012, it's going to be May 14th of that year that dooms us.

Tonight, the Bruins became just the third team in NHL history, joining the '42 Red Wings and the '75 Penguins, to blow a 3-0 series lead. You can chalk it up to the lack of effort, poor coaching, David Krejci's limp wrist, or just Tuukka Rask not being able to do it himself like Jaroslav Halak has done. But, bottom line, Philly was simply the better team since being booed out of their own building in Game 3.

Not only did the B's pull an out-of-this-world collapse out of their magic hats, but they blew a tremendous opportunity to make hockey in Boston front-page news even with the Celtics still chasing a championship of their own. A win tonight would have meant a Bruins-Canadiens conference final. But now we'll only have to imagine what that series could have been, what it would have been. The Bruins, for the time being, are back to being the laughing-stock of the Boston sports arena, and after that collapse, rightfully so.

The dynamic of the series changed about 5:30 into the first period of Game 3, when Mike Richards took advantage of a Zdeno Chara buddy-pass and nearly decapitated Krejci. Yes, they took a 3-0 series lead and gave themselves four opportunities to close out the Broad Street Bullies. But two things happened that game. Firstly, the Bruins looked at the scenario and said to themselves "Holy shit, we're up 3-0!" They gave themselves a unwarranted sense of belonging, like they already had this thing wrapped up, this much was obvious given their play in games five and six. Secondly, the teams identity was lost amongst the dislocation of Krejci's wrist. It was as if somebody pulled the plug at the bottom of the bathtub and all the water just drained out. So after giving themselves that faulty sense of security, they got the news on their top centerman (sorry Bergy and Savard) and all of the sudden security turned into distress, and eventually became panic.

You got the feeling at some point during the fifth game that the Bruins no longer believed they could hang with the Flyers. Now, there is to be no debating as to who the more talented team was in this series. The Bruins, in almost any matchup they face, are going to be on the lower-end of the talent spectrum. But they simply lost faith in their ability to play as a team.

On an individual level, Bruins fans got to see first hand that the reigning Norris Trophy winner is nowhere near the level of future Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Pronger. All season B's fans have felt a sense of security whenever the 6 foot niner stepped onto the ice. But this series, the confidence, the tenacity, and the dominance just wasn't there when it needed to be. Chara was an average player in the series, as where Pronger was the best player in the series.

Shame on the Bruins. They had an entire city behind their back last Wednesday, it looked as if they were going to be playing for a Conference Championship. And who better to play for a spot in the Cup Finals than the Canadiens? The Bruins had four opportunities over the past week to make hockey the sport in Boston. It would have been huge for the city and huge for the sport, but the Bruins morphed back into the team that lost ten in a row during the regular season and blew their chance to be on top. As Bruins fans, lets just hope to god that this series doesn't destroy Tuukka as it did Carey Price two years ago.

PS. I wrote this entire entry on Thursday because I had no faith that the Bruins could close this thing out. Then they go out and grab a 3-0 lead in the game, not series, and they manage to blow that, too. I would love to place a rant at the bottom of this section but I can't even muster the energy to do it right now.