5 Moments You Should Never Mention to a Boston Bruins Fan

As sports fans, we have all experienced heartbreak at some point.

For every thrilling victory, it seems there is a crushing defeat.

If you're a New England Patriots fan, you would rather burn yourself with hot coffee than watch highlights of the New York Giants winning Super Bowl XLII.

Supporters of the New York Yankees have no doubt tried everything in their power to erase the memories of blowing the 2004 ALCS to the Boston Red Sox.

St. Louis Cardinals die-hards will go on a tirade if they're reminded of umpire Don Denkinger's blown call in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series against the Kansas City Royals.

Only ask a Utah Jazz fan about Michael Jordan stealing the ball from Karl Malone and subsequently burying the game-winning shot in the final seconds of Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals if you want to get slapped.

For the Boston Bruins, there have been many terrible moments that their fans don't want to talk about. Some are recent, and some are from several decades ago.

Here are the five moments you should never mention to a Bruins fan:

1971 Quarterfinals Against Montreal

The 1970-71 season was a historic one for the Bruins.

They were the defending Stanley Cup champions, and were widely expected to storm through the playoffs and claim the Cup once again. They were led by the best player in the world in Bobby Orr, and the team registered a league-best 121 points with a 57-14-7 record.

Boston had seven of the league's top-10 scorers, and Phil Esposito set new NHL records for most goals (76) and points (152) in a season.

But all that came crashing down in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs against archrival Montreal.

Led by rookie goaltender Ken Dryden, the Habs beat the Bruins in seven games in one of the biggest upsets in NHL history.

The Bruins, already up 1-0 in the series, led 5-2 going into the third period of Game 2 looking to take a commanding two-game series lead. But disaster struck in the final 20 minutes.

The Canadiens scored five unanswered goals to win 7-5, and eventually won the series in seven games, even after being down three games to two. To add to the pain for Boston, the Habs won the seventh game at the Boston Garden.

Montreal went on to win the Stanley Cup and Dryden was named the Conn Smythe Winner.

Boston won the Cup the very next year, but Bruins fans will never get over choking in the playoffs after such an incredible regular season.

Matt Cooke's Hit on Marc Savard

Fan favorite Marc Savard's career was essentially ended on March 7, 2010 when Pittsburgh Penguin Matt Cooke elbowed Savard in the head.

Cooke was not penalized on the play and the league did not suspend him, which enraged Bruins fans across the country.

Savard suffered a Grade 2 concussion and left the ice on a stretcher. He missed the rest of the regular season before returning to play in the conference quarterfinals against the Philadelphia Flyers, scoring the game-winning goal in overtime of the first game.

However, less than a year later, Savard suffered another concussion on a hit by former Bruin Matt Hunwick in a game against the Colorado Avalanche. The Bruins shut him down for the rest of the season and he hasn't played since due to post-concussion symptoms.

There's no question that Cooke's hit is responsible for the majority of Savard's symptoms and caused the Bruins to lose one of their leading scorers and best teammates.

Savard is now 36, and will most likely never play professional hockey again. Meanwhile, Cooke has enjoyed a resurgence in his career and recently signed a three-year deal with the Minnesota Wild for $7.5 million.

The hit escalated the rivalry between the Bruins and Penguins, and Cooke is booed every time he touches the puck at TD Garden.

Bruins fans lost one of their best players while a notoriously dirty player got off without any consequence—causing this to be the No. 4 moment to never bring up to a Bruins fan.

The Too Many Men Game

After being eliminated by the Canadiens in the playoffs the previous two seasons, the B's looked poised to eliminate their archrival and the three-time defending Stanley Cup champions in the seventh game of the 1979 semifinals.

Boston scored at the 16:01 mark of the third period to reclaim the lead at 4-3 after previously being ahead 3-1 after two periods.

But shortly after, the unthinkable happened.

With just 2:34 separating the Bruins from a series victory, they were called for too many men on the ice, which led to Boston coach Don Cherry raising his arms to the crowd, crediting them with influencing the officiating—a gesture which is seen weekly on Hockey Night in Canada.

Montreal's Guy Lafluer capitalized on the power play to send the game to overtime, which Montreal won 5-4 on a goal by Yvon Lambert.

The Canadiens went on to defeat the New York Rangers to win their fourth straight Cup.

It was also the final game Don Cherry would ever coach for the Bruins.

The horrendous timing and the embarrassment of such a penalty make this excruciating for any Bruins fan to recollect.

Game 6 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final

This is still a fresh wound for Bruins fans, but did it ever cut deep.

With the Bruins leading the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 late in the third period of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, it looked like Boston was going to hold on and force a seventh and deciding game to determine the Stanley Cup champion.

But what happened next is the No. 2 moment to never mention to a Bruins fan.

Bryan Bickell beat Tuukka Rask to tie the game with 1:16 left and it now seemed like a foregone conclusion to everyone at TD Garden and those watching at home that the fourth overtime game of the series was in store.

Everyone except Chicago.

Dave Bolland put in a rebound just 17 seconds later to put Chicago up 3-2 and stun 20,000 fans in the arena and millions watching across North America.

59 seconds later, the season was over. The Blackhawks were the Stanley Cup champions for the second time in four seasons and the Bruins were left shaking their heads at the reality of letting Game 6 slip away.

What is with the city of Boston having bad luck in the sixth game of a championship series?

Bolland's heroics also earned him a new middle name in New England, joining former Yankees Bucky F---ng Dent and Aaron F---ing Boone. Bolland will forever be known to Bruins fans as Dave F---ing Bolland.

2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals vs. Philadelphia

The No. 1 moment to never mention to a Bruins fan is Boston's epic collapse against the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.

This year's defeat to Chicago was brutal, but this was only the third time in NHL history that a team came down from a 3-0 deficit to win. There's no doubt this is more humiliating to have etched in memory.

The B's took the first two games at home before dominating the Flyers 4-1 in Game 3 in the City of Brotherly Love. However, the victory came at a price. Center David Krejci dislocated his right wrist on a devastating open-ice hit by the Flyers' then-captain Mike Richards. Krejci needed surgery as a result and missed the remainder of the series.

Game 4 went to overtime, and veteran Simon Gagne scored the game-winner to keep the seventh-seeded Flyers alive.

No big deal, Boston fans thought. We'll oust them at home.

Easier said then done.

Philly controlled Game 5 from start to finish and it was a 4-0 combined shutout by Brian Boucher and Michael Leighton that extended the series once again. Now B's fans were starting to worry—New Englanders were only six years removed from the 2004 ALCS—so they knew a comeback was possible.

Philadelphia eked out a 2-1 win in Game 6 to force a winner-take-all Game 7 in Beantown.

Game 7 started perfectly for the home team—a 3-0 lead in the first period. All was well for the Bruins, who looked like the team from the first three games of the series.

But then James van Riemsdyk got the Flyers on the board late in the first. Scott Hartnell got Philly one goal closer early in the second before Danny Briere tied the game at three.

The fans wearing black and gold were as nervous as Amanda Bynes' parole officer.

And history repeated itself late in the third period for Boston. Just like 31 years earlier against Montreal, the Bruins were called for too many men on the ice, and their opposition pounced.

Gagne scored the game-winner with a snipe off the post to give Philly a 4-3 lead, which it wouldn't surrender.

As the clock expired, fans were left with the sight of orange and white jerseys mobbing each other on Boston's home ice. It was the worst loss in the history of the Bruins, and something you should never bring up to a B's fan.