From a Bruins perspective, I think we can all say we’re incredibly relieved that series ended as quickly as it did. The Washington Capitals are probably the biggest and most physical team the Bruins will face in the postseason pending they make it past whoever wins the Islanders-Penguins series, and they already lost Kevan Miller over it.

I’m not going to say we thought that this series was destined for at least six games, but I don’t think any of us expected the Capitals to collapse the way that they did. From the start of the series, the only thing that I knew might cause problems for Washington was their goaltending… I wasn’t wrong. Washington used all three of their available goaltenders, and none of them proved that they could withstand the revamped offense of the Boston Bruins.

The story of this series (at least for me) was the mental mistakes. We knew going into this that it was going to be not-so-friendly. Earlier in the season after Tom Wilson sidelined Brandon Carlo with a [we’ll call it] questionable high hit, the animosity between the two teams was… high. What that turned into was two teams that wanted to take each other’s heads off and also score some goals. That lead to the penalties, and the mental errors.

It wasn’t always pretty hockey, but when it was, man oh man it was fun to watch. Taylor Hall did Taylor Hall things, the Bruins top line showed up when it mattered (which was a tall task in past postseason appearances), and David Pastrnak finally has begun to heat up after seeming snakebitten leading into the series.

To top it all off, Tuukka Rask just seems like he’s on a mission to prove that he belongs amongst the top of the all-time greats list. He certainly has the numbers to back it up with Boston: most games played, most postseason wins, even a Stanley Cup to his name, but he needs this one as a starter to get it carved out in stone. Nobody’s debating his talent and career are unparalleled and deserve some damn respect, but a Stanley Cup as a starter would put all doubt behind.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, however, there’s a few more rounds of hockey to be played, and Boston has the luxury of waiting a few extra days while the Islanders and Penguins slug it out. Both teams have given the Bruins trouble, and both teams deserve to move on. (Cheesy line coming up) unfortunately, only one of them can.

The path to the Cup isn’t easy, and it’s argued to be one of the hardest trophies to win in all of sports, but the Bruins are on a mission. Well, so is every other team in the postseason but we’re not talking about them right now.

P.S. I’m not going to say I cried seeing Chara hug everyone in the handshake line, but if you cried too that’s okay.

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