Even before the puck was dropped for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final at TD Garden, it was a historic Wednesday night in Boston.
The city had not played host to a Game 7 in any major professional sport since the Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers to win the NBA title exactly 35 years ago to the day.
The Bruins brought the series back to Boston after surging past the St. Louis Blues for a 5-1 win Sunday and were 60 minutes away from joining the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots as reigning champions in their respective sports. However, the dream ending just wasn’t meant to be for what was statistically the best team standing in the National Hockey League through each of the final three playoff rounds.
St. Louis scored twice in the first period and never looked back in the series-clinching and first-ever title-winning, 4-1 triumph, ultimately doubling its lead on Auburn, N.H., native Zach Sanford’s first career postseason goal with less than five minutes left in regulation before the Bruins were able to crack the scoreboard.
“It’s an empty feeling,” said Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy, whose team had four New England natives playing a part during the postseason run that included series victories over Toronto, Columbus and Carolina en route to its first Cup Final appearance since 2013. “It’s a long year. Someone had to win and someone had to lose, and we came out on the wrong side of it. It’s not the way you picture it. It’s as simple as that.”
Not only were the Bruins a game away from joining two of their Boston sports brethren in the current winner’s circle, but a Stanley Cup victory would have made never-before-seen history for the longstanding franchise, as just one New England native has ever hoisted the Cup.
Forwards Noel Acciari (Johnston, R.I.), Charlie Coyle (Weymouth, Mass.) and Chris Wagner (Walpole, Mass.) and defenseman Matt Grzelcyk (Charlestown, Mass.) were looking to join 1929 winner Myles Lane (Melrose, Mass.) in a very exclusive club of locals.
This season has been an especially emotional one for Coyle, who was traded back to his hometown from Minnesota in late February. The seven-year veteran proved to be a vital acquisition for Boston and turned into a playoff hero for the B’s, tying for the team lead with nine goals during the 24-game postseason, including three in the first six games of his first-ever Cup Final.
Inside of a disappointed locker room in which many teammates fought back tears while conducting postgame interviews and forward Jake DeBrusk was seen sitting at his locker in full uniform for several minutes, Coyle took a moment to reflect on a journey that officially has taken him full circle.
“I just feel very fortunate to be where I am, just playing close to home and my family,” Coyle said. “This is a great team that had a great chance to do something special. It doesn’t happen all the time. Not many people get to have that opportunity. You always wish for a different outcome right now, but I’m very fortunate that this all happened the way it did.”
A captain on Providence College’s national title-winning team in 2015, Acciari played his part on Boston’s all-important fourth line throughout the series and contributed the second goal of his postseason career ― albeit in empty-net fashion ― during Boston’s Game 3 road win.
Despite practicing earlier in the week and skating in warmups prior to Game 7, Wagner missed the Final after blocking a shot off the wrist during Game 3 of the B’s Eastern Conference Final sweep of Carolina. He never was officially ruled out, though he never returned to the ice after scoring in two of the final three games he played.
Grzelcyk’s postseason nearly ended in similar fashion after he suffered a concussion in Game 2 against the Blues, but the former Boston University captain made his return to the lineup and got the Bruins on the board in the late stages of what was their first loss in four elimination games during this postseason.
For Grzelcyk, who grew up a stone’s throw away from the Garden, where his father, John, is still a trusted member of the Bull Gang, it was about as happy an ending as one could muster in such a circumstance. But there was, too, an empty feeling and a very bitter taste.
“The worst thing as a player is having to sit and watch and not being able to go out there and battle with the guys, so there are a lot of things going through my head right now,” Grzelcyk said of the emotions of four games during the Cup run. “It’s really tough. It was obviously great to get back in the lineup tonight and feel a lot more like myself, but it’s kind of a shock right now.
“It’s a lot to take in, but there’s certainly a lot to be proud of this year.”
The journey began 10 months ago with a preseason trip to China and ended with experiencing the lowest of emotions on home ice, but this was a resilient team all the way through, especially in the realm of dealing with injuries.
The Bruins will look to use this loss as motivation for the future as their four New England natives continue chasing the ultimate hockey dream to which they came so close.
“We all love each other and we’re going to lean on each other to get through this,” said Charlie McAvoy, another former BU blueliner who hails from Long Beach, N.Y. “It’s tough. We had all the makings of a special group and we felt so special in here. It was really special to be a part of something like this, and then to not win, I feel really incomplete.”
