Lots of people pointing to last year's loss as another "playoff failure." That's too easy. We ultimately lost, yes, but going to game 7 and beating the Blues in three of those games – and quite handily, too – does not indicate a team that can't win in the post-season. Beat a very tough and physical Columbus squad, too. Had some injuries along the way, and some undeniably horrible officiating as well.
Now, not exactly the same roster this year, but I'm not in the "blow it all up" camp because of this year's extenuating circumstances. For whatever reason, this team in the bubble playoffs is just not playing up to its potential. There have been flashes of the regular-season Bruins, but I think too many of our players just haven't been able to get back up to where they were, or gel as a team.
Sure, it's undeniable the trade deadline players have largely been a bust. Ritchie might have brought some size, but not much else, and he's not used it in the best way. Kase, while the effort and skill are there, hasn't brought offense, which is why he's there.
As far as game 4, it's easy to blame Halak, but I think he played well enough for the B's to win that game. Maybe one goal he would "liked to have back" but he also made some big stops when he needed to. At the very least he wasn't any worse than anyone else. When you have the league's leading goal-scorer given a wide open net, he needs to bury that.
The whole team – maybe outside of Marchand and McAvoy, and maybe Lindholm and Nordstrom – just seems to be running at 80%. Not good enough.
