2012 NHL Playoffs: 'Post-Cup Hangover' Just an Excuse for Boston Bruins' Failure

Win a Stanley Cup and be one of two NHL teams with the shortest offseason and it is easy enough to explain, not necessarily excuse, losing four or more of the first seven games next October.

Regroup and kick enough ice chips over an acrid October to replenish a contender’s persona from Thanksgiving through Easter and there is no way to explain losing four of the first seven games in the playoffs.

Respond to another bout of adversity in mid-March to hastily reclaim first place in the division and it boggles the mind all the more when that resiliency cannot show up a third time when the season is on the line.

The Boston Bruins gave less than what they had at their disposal when they began the defense of their 2011 championship. As a consequence, that defense was abruptly cut off when they dropped a 2-1 decision to Washington in the seventh game of the opening round.

The Bruins at least ought to have reached the conference semifinals without worrying about residual wear-and-tear from their previous playoff run. If they could recover from the 3-7-0 start to the regular season the way they did, they ought to have had enough left to win at least one round for the fourth consecutive season.

Entering the postseason, the most logical object of worry ought to have been goaltender Tim Thomas. He was the second-eldest member of the team who played virtually every minute of the 2011 playoffs.

But even with that and the March 3 injury to colleague Tuukka Rask, Thomas looked to be in passable playoff shape by the second week of April. All he would need going forward was more of the same support from the strike force that tied Philadelphia for the NHL’s second-highest output of the regular season.

Facing an unripe rookie goaltender in Braden Holtby, who under normal circumstances would have been with the AHL’s Hershey Bears, the Bruins may not have had a cakewalk at hand. But they were in a position to make themselves their own worst foes.

That was what happened when they split the first two games of the series at TD Garden, both in overtime, by a cumulative score of 2-2. The top six and the power play were both utterly mute and of the 74 shots they thrust at Holtby, too few were from a threatening distance and too few amounted to fatal rebounds.

It would not have taken a substantial additional dose of hustle to pursue, pick up and polish off a few of those rebounds. But doing so would have made a substantial difference in a series that saw all seven games decided by a single goal and only one instance of a multi-goal differential.

If anything, the Bruins should have been sparked by an urge to avoid a repeat of last year’s opening round, which saw them get away with a 0-for-21 playoff performance to ultimately zap the Montreal Canadiens in overtime.

If Boston really needed more energy to merely abolish the Washington Capitals, it could have come from incentive to improve its five-on-four brigade and, in turn, sustained itself with early success on the man-advantage.

Instead, the Bruins did not attain a power-play conversion until Johnny Boychuk inserted a vain equalizer at 8:47 of the third period in Game 5. The Capitals rebounded to bust the resultant 3-3 tie late in regulation and raised a 3-2 upper hand in the series.

Two weeks after the fact, defenseman Andrew Ference himself told the Bruins Web site, “We should’ve learned lessons from that Montreal series. You can’t have off games, and you can’t let games slip by your hands.”

Continuing with his candor, the alternate captain added, “It’s just a matter of everyone playing at their potential.”

Sure, Boston’s top playoff point-getter, Rich Peverley, had missed 25 regular-season games due to injury. One could argue that he had and benefited from more rest than his fellow returnees from 2011.

Even so, the top six could have done better than a maximum limit of three points apiece in the Washington series.

Milan Lucic, goalless with three assists in the series, summed it up soundly when he admitted to the team’s Web site, “…maybe looking back, there might not have been that desperation or that killer instinct that we had in the past. Even earlier on you look at our team and how we were in November and December, it seemed like after that Christmas break we weren’t able to, I guess, get that desperation or any of that back in our game and it ultimately hurt us in the end.”

Take out the “maybe” and the “might” and there’s your answer.