Florida Panthers upset record-breaking Boston Bruins

These Boston Bruins are not used to losing streaks.

They ripped through the NHL during the regular season, winning 65 games, a single-season record; claiming the Presidents’ Trophy with a league-high 135 points, 22 points ahead of any other team; and beat their opponents by 128 goals.

But after all that winning, a three-game losing streak, only their second of the season, came at an inconvenient time. The Florida Panthers defeated the Bruins 4-3 in overtime of Game 7 of their Sunday night first-round playoff series in Boston to stage a rare comeback from a 3-1 series deficit. And they did so against some of the most formidable opponents in the league’s 106-year history: the Bruins had 43 points ahead of the Panthers in the regular season.

Boston had been so dominant that on Saturday night, after Toronto defeated Tampa Bay to win a postseason series for the first time since 2004, some Maple Leafs fans gathered outside the team’s arena chanting, “We want Florida. “

They got their wish.

Carter Verhaeghe, a member of Tampa Bay’s 2020 championship team, won the series with a left-handed shot from the right face-off dot through a Matthew Tkachuk screen.

The Panthers built a 2-0 lead early in the second period, prompting a few boo’s from an excited Boston crowd. The Bruins scored three straight goals and looked poised to advance, but defenseman Brandon Montour forced overtime by scoring his second goal of the game with less than a minute left, and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was sent to the bench for an extra attacker.

By losing in the first round, the Bruins suffered the same fate as the 2018/19 Lightning, who had shared the previous single-season win record with the 1995/96 Detroit Red Wings. That Tampa Bay team crashed in a four-game sweep against Columbus, prompting an apology from the fans on social media. Of the four teams that won at least 60 games in a season, only one, the star-laden 1976–77 Montreal Canadiens, won the Stanley Cup.

This year’s Bruins, under their freshman coach, Jim Montgomery, also had talent on their roster. Five players had at least 20 goals and five had at least 40 assists. David Pastrnak, the star winger who signed an eight-year contract extension last month, led both categories with 61 goals and 52 assists.

In net, Linus Ullmark’s class-leading save percentage and goals-against average had positioned him as a favorite to win the Vezina Trophy. And if Ullmark wasn’t in between the pipes, Jeremy Swayman was also posting great numbers.

This year Boston became the fastest team ever with 50 wins. Towards the end, however, the TD Garden fans trudged to the exits after the Bruins became the 28th NHL team to lose a playoff series after leading 3-1.

Boston now enters an off-season with important questions to answer. The team doesn’t have much of a salary cap, and the unrestricted free agents include two members of the most recent championship squad: Patrice Bergeron, the 37-year-old captain and a top defensive forward; and David Krejci, who had a goal and two assists on Sunday. The team had gathered around those veterans to try and get them another title.

The Bruins also have no high-end draft picks available. They will not have a choice in the first or second round this year and due to a previous trade, they may not have a selection in the 2024 draft until the fourth round.

The Panthers were soundly defeated in Game 4 and were one goal away from ending their season in the next game. Instead, they will, unlikely, continue to play.