Bruins collapse ends dream season, maybe Patrice Bergeron era | Matt Vautour

BOSTON — After Tyler Bertuzzi scored to tie the game a minute into the third period and David Pastrnak pulled Boston ahead just over 3 minutes later, it looked like the Bruins had rediscovered their magic.

If they could finish off the third period, all of the anxiety caused by their struggles in Games 5 and 6 would just be elements in a good narrative. The requisite adversity in the origin story to make the final result feel more appreciated.

Everything was set up for a memorable finish to this season. Patrice Bergeron commands a similar respect among hockey players to what Peyton Manning or John Elway did in the NFL. He, and fellow franchise icon David Krejci, led a talented team capable of a storybook final championship run like Manning or Elway had.

But there was no happily after. No Stanley Cup or ride off into the sunset. A team with dreams of playing into June won’t even suit up in May following Sunday’s stunning first-round exit.

After the most successful regular season in NHL history, this Bruins’ collapse would have been unfathomable. The same players who had been so poised and so unflappable all year, were anxious, jumpy and prone to unforced mistakes.

After Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour scored in the final minute of regulation Sunday, the Bruins reverted to the same turnover-prone team who allowed Florida to even a series Boston had led 3-1 after four games.

Carter Varhaeghe’s overtime goal ended the game, the series, the Bruins’ season and maybe an era.

“We weren’t ready for the intensity of the Stanley Cup Playoffs,” said Boston coach Jim Montgomery, whose reputation was dented by the collapse. “But, Games 5, 6 and 7, we had dug in and that’s where it’s a little stupefying.”

Nationally, they’ll talk about the Presidents’ Trophy curse and how the Bruins became the latest team with the best record not to lift the Stanley Cup. Locally, the comparison will be the 2007 Patriots, who won their first 18 games and lost in the Super Bowl.

But for the Bruins themselves, the past won’t matter. It’s the lack of a future for this team.

They can’t run it back next year with the same group. The salary cap will make that impossible. Bertuzzi, Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov are all unrestricted free agents. Jeremy Swayman is a restricted free agent and Pastrnak already has a huge raise on the books. The money won’t work.

While neither has announced anything, there is a very real likelihood that either Bergeron or Krejci or both will retire, even without the happy ending. Bergeron said he needed time to contemplate his future, while Krejci, who returned for 2022-23 after a year playing in Czechia, chose not to talk after the game.

The two 37-year-old centers and Brad Marchand are the last links left to the 2011 Stanley Cup winners. Knowing it could be their final season together, Marchand admitted the players were dreaming of a deep run.

“It’s tough, we were hoping to make a good long run here all together,” said Marchand, who later added. “At the end of the day, we play the regular season to get a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, to play for a Cup, and that’s the goal every year is to play for a Cup, not to dominate the regular season. …This is a tough one. We obviously expected much different results this year and this series, and unfortunately, that didn’t happen. This one is going to hurt for a long time.”

Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.

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