Meltdown. Bruins Lose.

Historic meltdown at the TD Garden

You probably want to read this about as much as we wanted to write it. We all witnessed history last night, but not the type of history you ever want to be a part of. Until the end of the world, whenever NBC or ESPN or Versus (if anyone can find it) shows a little graphic in the screen when a team goes down 0-3 in a series and tries to come back, the Bruins will be part of that. The B’s became just the third team in history to blow a 3-0 series lead and lose. They had the game in their hands. The TD Garden was rocking. Shortly after, the masses exited not talking and turning their Bruins jerseys inside out. Flyers fans celebrated outside. No one bothered them. How could we? What are we going to say? Flyers suck?

We should’ve jumped

We preached patience here at Days of Y’Orr. After Game 6 when everyone was hopping off the Tobin en masse, we laughed. We called Flyers fans inbred for taunting us about a Bruins collapse. Bruins gave us hope early. But in a running theme with them this season, they quickly took it away… The Bruins came out on fire. The memories of Games 4, 5 and 6 were gone. You looked at your buddies sitting there with you and just nodded. They got this… the Bruins got this. The Flyers did what they do best and took stupid penalties. Hartnell went to the box early for highsticking.

Ryder spies with his little eyes a loose puck. Goal. 1-0. The all important first goal. Hope builds. Briere decides what Hartnell did was cool and goes to the box for high sticking. Bruins power play #2. Saying Lucic was a monster is an understatement. This was the Lucic the Bruins signed to a $12 million deal. He was hitting, winning corners battles, controlling the puck. He was a dominant force. Grasshopper learned from Ryder and banged home a rebound. 2-0. They did it, you thought. The Bruins found their heart. Their desire. A few minutes later Lucic became a sniper. He beat Leighton again. Bruins up 3-0. You started partying like it was 1992. Conference Finals here we come!

Play like this next season please.

Then it started. Toward the end of the period, Rask let up perhaps his weakest goal all season. Its okay you thought. Still up 3-1. They’ll keep it up. James Van Der Beek got the easiest goal of his young career.

The second period started. We know this because the clock started ticking down from 20:00. But no one told the Bruins. They were lazy, out of position. All the fire and motivation from the first disappeared like a box of donuts in Bruce Boudreau’s office. Hartnell scores. 3-2. Briere scores. 3-3.

Here comes the choke.

Lucic hits a post. But so does Chris Pronger. With just over 7 minutes left in the game, Philly hero Simon Gagne scores on the power play. 4-3. Choke job complete.

Devastating.

People are pointing fingers today. Many are blaming the refs. Many are blaming injuries. But this is a Bruins team that had a 3-0 series lead and a 3-0 lead in Game 7 and let the Flyers back into the game.  They choked. Epically.

We know how you feel Homer….

Boston needed to win 1 game out of 4. They faced Michael Leighton, a goalie who hadn’t played in over three months, and failed. Miserably. Don’t blame referees. Don’t blame injuries. Blame the players in black and gold jerseys. It is hard to find words today. Bruins fans are angry. And rightfully so. Days of Y’Orr will have a season recap and player review in the coming days. But not today. Maybe not even tomorrow. We’ll say too many things we can’t take back. We have to process this bitter disappointment. And Go Habs Go. Guys like Hartnell and Carcillo don’t deserve to have their names etched on the Cup.

F you Bruins