Blown Leads and Missed Opportunities

Kyle Penton

Hockey Night Fever

Stephen Cole

Even the greatest teams in sports history led important games, ultimately losing them: the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 42, the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl 51, and the Boston Bruins in the 1971 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Bruins had won Lord Stanley’s Cup the prior and with the team they had they were the league favorite by a landslide, “Boston players figured the ‘70-71 team was their best ever. So did the new hockey math” (86-87). The top 4 scorers in the National Hockey League were Bruins, and the team set a record for wins in a season with 57. All the Bruins had to do was play smart hockey and they would have back to back cups: that was the hardest part for them.

After a game 1 win over the Canadiens, the Bruins thought they had the Cup in the bag: and after gaining a 5-1 lead going into the 3rd period of game 2, they let off the gas, “Five-one, Bruins. The scene at the Garden was like V-J Day⎻drifting confetti, horns, bear hugs and kisses” (95). Unlike the Bruins, the Canadiens did not quit and went on to win game 2 by a score of 7-5, tallying 6 goals in the final period of play. This loss hurt the Bruins and they were still down, which led to their defeat during game 3. But the Bruins bounced back and snatched up games 4 and 5, making the series 3 games to 2 in favor of the Bruins. In true underdog fashion the Canadiens did not quit, because there were still two winnable games left to defeat the reigning champions of Boston. The Canadiens killed not only the Bruins in these next two games, but they destroyed the hearts of every person in Boston, “Here, the entire city, the whole league, figured the Bruins would be fighting it out with New York and Chicago in the 1971 finals… and then the Bruins go and get stabbed in the back…” (105). The top-rated teams in the NHL this year had been the Blackhawks, the Rangers, and the Bruins; all of which had been bested by the team nobody expected, the Montreal Canadiens.

Although the Bruins would go on to win the Stanley Cup the following year in 1972, the ‘71 playoffs were the beginning of the downfall of one of the greatest teams in hockey history. Bobby Orr would retire at age 27 from his bad knees, Derek Sanderson succumbed to alcoholism never playing at the same level again. The head coach, Harry Sinden, got fired because he believed he should have been payed more than he was getting. The Bruins decline was due to injuries, their selfishness, and not having a team-before-I attitude.

To me, this book is wonderful. I love to read about old time hockey, and how the game and franchises I love today have grown and changed to what they are. Much like today’s Bruins, the 1970’s Bruins struggled with injuries and coaching difficulties, like the firing of head coach Claude Julien at the end of the 2016-17 season.

I believe any Bruins fan would enjoy reading Part One of this book, because it is a mostly complete history of the Boston Bruins organization and development from 1965-76. In depth player backgrounds shape the descriptions of how the Bruins molded Boston into a hockey-loving city. There were also partial interviews with Bostonians of this time, and important people that helped lead to the Bruins' success.