Anybody that expected a fire and brimstone speech from Cam Neely about heads rolling after the Bruins first round exit from the playoff probably left TD Garden disappointed on Thursday afternoon.
Those that expected a Bs ownership group and management team to express a disappointment after a seven-game loss to the Washington Capitalsand the teams first opening round playoff exit in four seasonsgot exactly what they were looking for. Bruins ownershipmanagement liaison Charlie Jacobs used the term disappointing in his first sentence to the assembled media at Legends Restaurant at TD Garden, and the man signing the checks didnt sound much happier.
Of course the younger Jacobs also mentioned the term parity in attempting to reconcile the reasons behind losing in the playoffs, and mentioned a level of pride still there with the team.
We did expect to get out of that first round this year. We were probably a little better than the team that won the Stanley Cup when you look at the skill level and the age of the players, said Bruins Principal owner Jeremy Jacobs. We wanted to do better, we expected to do better and we have every reason to believe wed do better.
Neely said a philosophical change might be in store for the power play after it once again let down the Black and Gold at the worst possible time, but there was no fist pounding on the table in fury one year removed from winning the Stanley Cup. Instead the Bruins President hoped his young nucleus of players learned from the mental and physical grind associated with attempting to repeat as Stanley Cup champs.
Its disappointing to lose out in the first round. We didnt have this at all last year. I dont like this at all and I dont think anybody in the organization likes it, said Neely. I used this saying a lot when I was a player and I was dealing with injuries and everything else: I said quite a few times that may rear view mirror is broken. I cant use it. We had a lot to celebrate last year and weve had a lot of things to learn from this past season.
We can learn from it, and I believe because of the character of our players were going to come back even more motivated at the start of training camp.
Boston Bruins
The displeasure with losing early in the playoffs was clear coming from the top on Causeway Street, and it appears that the Bruins have moved on organizationally while already putting an emphasis on next year. If another first round playoff exit follows this one, then that fire and brimstone might just make a cameo appearance at this time next year.