History Repeats Itself as Bruins Get Eliminated in Overtime

On April 22, 1979, the Boston Bruins swept the Pittsburgh Penguins in four games in the quarterfinals. They went on to play the Montreal Canadiens in the semifinals. The Bruins forced a seventh game in that series, and in the overtime of that seventh game, on May 10, 1979, the Canadiens' Yvon Lambert scored the winning goal at 9:33 to give the Canadiens the series win.

Well, the more things change, the more they stay the same. On April 22, 2009, thirty years later to the day, the Boston Bruins swept the Montreal Canadiens in four games in the quarterfinals. They went on to play the Carolina Hurricanes in the semifinals. The Bruins forced a seventh game in that series, and in the overtime of that seventh game, on May 14, 2009, the Hurricanes' Scott Walker scored the winning goal at 18:46 to give the Hurricanes the series win.

There is no doubt that the city of Boston is still in shock at the outcome of the game and series. In an overtime elimination game, hockey is by far the most intense of all sports. It is guaranteed to end in dramatic fashion. When the puck drops in overtime, you're on the edge of your seat from start to finish. There is no guarantee an MLB player hits a walk-off homerun. There is no guarantee an NBA player hits a buzzer-beater shot to win the game. There is no guarantee an NFL quarterback connects for a Hail Mary touchdown pass. In the NHL, it's just a matter of time before the drama unfolds- don't blink either, because it will happen in a flash.

"It's very intense," said Bruins defensemen Steve Montador. "You can feel it, but at the same time, as hard as your battling… you don't want to make any mistakes… you're not going out of your way to take a hit or give a hit. You're playing a little protective, but you're also playing to win, and that line is the edge that you play on. That's playoff overtime hockey, and it's different, certainly, than regular season, even the first three periods."

Bruins rookie forward Byron Bitz scored the first goal of the game tonight, and the first playoff goal of his NHL career, but the celebration didn't last long. "…I mean you battle like that all year and it comes down to one shot, one goal," said Bitz. "It's like a knife in the heart. It's tough to take."

"When you go down three (games to) one and you battle back like that, it's just a shock when it ended like that," said Bruins forward Marc Savard.

Although the Bruins couldn't' take care of business this season, the future looks bright for this young team, and they're learning the hard way that it takes hard work and dedication to bring home the Cup.

"They were a good group," said head coach Claude Julien. "We talked about the team chemistry and how they hung to together and stuck together and the resiliency was there… You want to build on the positive -- you've got some young guys who keep getting better every year and you've just gotta get better year after year and hopefully we keep going in the right direction, we don't take any steps backwards and go from there."