Bruins eliminated, regular-season success didn't translate to playoffs

The Boston Bruins were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Florida Panthers, losing 4-3 in overtime in Game 7 of the best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round on Sunday.

Boston (65-12-5) was the top seed in the Eastern Conference after winning the Atlantic Division and the Presidents' Trophy. They set an NHL record for wins (65) and points (135) in the regular season. The Bruins have qualified for the playoffs in each of the past six seasons, going to the Stanley Cup Final in 2019 and losing in Game 7 to the St. Louis Blues.

The skinny

Potential unrestricted free agents: Patrice Bergeron, F; David Krejci, F; Nick Foligno, F; Tyler Bertuzzi, F; Tomas Nosek, F; Garnet Hathaway, F; Dmitry Orlov, D; Connor Clifton, D

Potential restricted free agents: Trent Frederic, F; Jakub Lauko, F; Jeremy Swayman, G

Potential 2022 Draft picks: 5

Here are five reasons the Bruins were eliminated:

1. Not closing it out

The Bruins had three chances to finish off the Panthers after going up 3-1, with two of those games at home. But the Bruins failed to win any of the games, losing Games 5 and 7 at home in overtime, allowing the Panthers to creep back in and creep back in and, eventually, take the series.

Boston came close to ending the series on a final-second breakaway by Brad Marchand in Game 5, but Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made the stop. It was just the opening the Panthers needed and their confidence and push grew with every period the Bruins didn't put them away.

The Bruins had been especially good at closing out teams in the regular season, scoring 113 goals in the third period and allowing 59, each mark the best in the NHL. But they couldn't continue that in the playoffs.

2. Goaltending

The Bruins went into this series led by their likely Vezina Trophy-winning goalie Linus Ullmark, who led the NHL in wins (40, tied with the Colorado Avalanche's Alexandar Georgiev), 1.89 goals-against average and .938 save percentage.

But Ullmark, who played all but 3:11 in the first six games of the series, got shakier as the series went along. He allowed four goals in the Bruins' Game 5 loss and six in Game 6 and was sat out Game 7, with Jeremy Swayman starting instead.

Swayman, who hadn't started a game since April 13, couldn't save the season either, though he played well in Game 7, allowing four goals on 31 shots.

RELATED: [Complete Bruins vs. Panthers series coverage]

3. Puck management and sloppiness

The Bruins were not a mistake-prone team in the regular season. But in the series against the Panthers, the Bruins made miscue after miscue, from issues with miscommunication, including the play that led directly to the game-winning goal in Game 5, when Ullmark turned over the puck behind the net, to giveaways.

It happened again in Game 7, when a defensive zone turnover led directly to the second goal for the Panthers, scored by Sam Reinhart at 1:14 of the second period.

At 5-on-5, the Panthers forecheck was relentless and the Panthers forced the Bruins to make decisions they might not have otherwise made. But a lot of the damage was also self-inflicted, with turnovers leading quickly and directly to goals against.

4. Goalie decisions

The Bruins had gone with a goalie rotation all season, with Ullmark making 48 starts and Swayman, 33. In the playoffs, that was abandoned, with Ullmark starting the first six games, even as he faltered. The Bruins could have gone to Swayman in Game 5, with three chances to win and advance, or even Game 6, but they didn't until Game 7 - a difficult position for any player.

Coach Jim Montgomery also upended his lines in Game 5, separating Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand for the first half of the first period, a decision he said he regretted after the Game 7 loss, and something he really hadn't done in the regular season.

"I think the only thing I can look at right now and say I would have done different is starting Game 5, I would have had Bergeron and Marchand together, it took me eight minutes to get to there," Montgomery said. "Don't know if it makes a difference, but you know, that's the only thing that I look at right now that I would change. I don't have very much regret with anything that we did."

5. Disappearing defense

Defense has long been the Bruins hallmark and was again this season.

They allowed 2.12 goals per game, the best in the NHL, and made it difficult on other teams to score, led by Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm, both of whom got mentioned in the conversation for the Norris Trophy as the best defenseman in the NHL. But though McAvoy mostly played his usual game in the playoffs, he took a few uncharacteristic penalties, and the rest of the defensemen had a rough series.

Lindholm didn't look like his regular-season self and players like Connor Clifton and Derek Forbort struggled. Montgomery went to Matt Grzelcyk over Clifton later in the series, but it was not enough.