Well, it surely didn't end the way we had hoped the game or series would. But, boy they almost tied it, and it certainly was an exciting game.

I noticed several things tonight, and I'm curious if others (I talked to some people at the game and they agreed with me... you don't have to ) feel the same or exactly how do you feel. Anyway..

Some things I observed tonight was that, yes, sadly Tuukka wasn't on top of his game. But, he wasn't horrid. I've heard more rumors and stories about why Scott, himself was told that Tuukka was the goalie to play, that I don't even know what is correct anymore. If those stories are correct, I feel terrible that our own coaches couldn't use Jordan when they saw Tuukka struggling. Gosh, he's only a rookie. I guess we'll never know. And we do know that it's hard to have a rookie goalie lead you in the playoffs, but he did do great for those first six games. And, he wasn't horrid all the time either.

Other things I noticed tonight were other players not playing to their potential at all. It seemed (in many ways) like a different P-Bruins team then the one we saw at Game 2. Strange mistakes were made, shots missed the net, players missed passes.

I then thought about back in the beginning of the season how Providence had been thought of as a team that would be mediocre. They surely were anything but that. And then it made me start to think that the staying #1 all season (other then about eight days) took a lot of toll on them. Then when you are #1, so much is expected of you. I truly feel like they ran out of gas. Maybe I'm wrong, but those are just my thoughts.

I do know that I am so very happy with and proud of our team! This team is my second favorite (the one that won the Calder Cup is my very favorite) team that has ever been assembled. I'm sad that we'll never see them as a team again. But I am so proud of them and I'm so glad that we had them here.

I do know we'll see a bunch of them back.

Thank you P bruins for giving us a great season and hopes of winning the Calder Cup. It seemed as though the longer the game got the more tired the guys looked. The defense could have been a lot better as I saw a lot of standing around on D during Portland's power play attempts. At one point Portland was 3-3 on the PP and Providence went 0-4, scoring on their 5th try. Portland looked more physical and skated better. Looks like Ancass was right on this one by her predicting a loss and Rask being pulled. Ok, so now who are you going to root for in the AHL & NHL?

I'm rooting for Pittsburgh in the NHL and may Wilkes-Barre/Scranton beat the cr*p out of Portland!!

I don't know just who I'm going to root for in the AHL, I guess anybody but Portland, but in the NHL I'm torn between Detroit & Pittsburg. I like 'em both. By the way, why were there only 5,800+ fans at tonight's game at an elimination playoff game?

What was upsetting last night were a few things.

For whatever reason, Tuukku was in goal for way too long. At one point he even seemed like he was hurt. I am sure that Tuukku is being positioned as the next Tim Thomas in Boston, and therefore Boston wants Rask in goal for the playoffs.

If Sigalet was in goal, the outcome would likely have been different. After Portland got the first goal (which I thought was a soft goal), the tenor of the game changed.

The team and year was a lot of fun this year.... Maybe with a more seasoned Rask next year and many of the team back, we can go even farther in the playoffs.

The last thing that was dissapointing was the lack of attendance....

At least Hockey off season is in the summer!!!!

I agree that it seems that the biggest reason we lost was because of the lack of goaltending, and the fact that it almost seemed that Scott was told who to use. That ticks me off. Yes, Tuukka started off great! But, he was still only a rookie! Once he began to struggle in Portland, then Scott should have been able to have gone with Jordan. Even if he didn't use Jordan until Game 5, I believe that we would have left last night with a 4 games to 2 victory.

I'm not angry at Tuukka, I'm angry that it seems (whoevers choice it was!) that he wasn't replaced. He was only a rookie, and a rookie goalie can't carry the playoffs.

Also killing us was the power play (or lack of).

I really do not know where they got that figure from because the number of people there looked a whole lot more like 7,000+ to me. It was our biggest playoff crowd.

Believe me I didn't want to be right in fact I hated it. I just had a bad feeling that it wasn't going to happen. As far as Tuukka he's young and I think he'll work in the off season and come back next season a different player. He needs some development and he needs some work, but there were flashes of brilliance there and he just needs to expand upon those. I got ticked at the people booing him at the end of the game, and a couple of them were in my section and for that to any PB's, management and staff reading this I apologize it was as uncalled for as the idiots who threw stuff on the ice at the end of the game. As far as the decision to pull Tuukka for his sake it should have made much earlier, and I for one am a little surprised that Scott waited as long as he did, he didn’t hesitate to pull him during the season when he struggled so why wait so long in such an important game? My father agreed that when they tied the game he should have been pulled right then and there. As for the team running out of gas, I tend to agree, but the problem with that is had they won last night and pushed to a game 7 tonight and won that, what would they have done after that? This team was great, and I still say they could have gone farther, but great teams don’t fold like this, was there something more going on that we didn’t know about? And maybe the team wasn’t as comfortable playing in front of a struggling goalie, but I am also a strong believer that Boston does call the shots and they are more interested in Tuukka developing then seeing their prospects get playoff experience no matter what the cost, which is sad cause now you have a goalie who feels like he let his team down, you could see it in his face when he walked off the ice. All in all I wouldn’t change a thing about this season except the end of course. This Bruins team was the best team I had ever seen and I hope next year we see the same team and with a goalie that is confident in himself I hope that next season is as great as this season.

I forgot to add a P.S.: For the poster on Boston Bruins HF Boards who said this team choked. What I find amazing is that very few of you attended a game in Providence, but you can make a statement like that about a team that played their hearts out just as Boston did. This team did not choke, they did the best they could do all season and played as well as they could in front of a struggling rookie goalie, and in fact got farther than Boston did and the only reason I won't post this on there is because by the time I am done they will ban me.

As for who I am still rooting for, well in the AHL I am rooting for Syracuse and NHL Let's go Penguins!!!!!!!

Great post A! I'm in totally 100% agreement with you in all parts.

I'm sad that, for whatever insane reason, that Tuukka wasn't pulled when it was tied, and I'm surprised that Scott didn't (or wasn't allowed??) to replace him at LEAST by Game 5 with Jordan. Tuukka's a rookie! He's not supposed to lead a team to the playoffs. And, he did d*mn well if those first six games.

I also couldn't believe that fans dared to be such jerks as to boo him last night. I was disgusted. If he was a goalie for four years and played like that, then boo him, but he was just a rookie. I tell you, we are going to see incredible things next year from him, and we have many players coming back.

And don't even start me on the Boston fans on HF! Most all of them are so ignorant and have no clue as to what we'd seen in Providence all season. They just show up for our playoffs when Boston was out and then (try.. LOL) to form opinions -- but they're based on nothing! I don't know why you bother to read that forum. I used to, but all it did was tick me off. I don't read it anymore and I'm much calmer.

I agree with what most of you have to say. With Tuukka's struggles in Games 3 and 4, I am confused as why he got the start for Game 5 and especially Game 6 after struggling in 5 as well. And it is really sad how some people booed/blamed Tuukka. He tried. He did look hurt at one point and he was pushed into folded. He looked so upset when he was pulled. He looked like he felt as if he let the team down. I really think Boston must have pushed to play him the entire playoffs. Though, it really is sad if Gordon can not have that much say. He is head coach of the Providence Bruins. lol. Yes, I understand Providence is here for Boston but the guys had a chance to achieve bigger accomplishments than what they had accomplished all season and I think thought would have only raised their confidence for next season. I feel that Aubin did help pull Portland through. He was making great saves and has a few years experience in the NHL. Our offense was trying really hard but couldn't get anything past him. And, Lori, you are right, they looked like they were just out of gas. I also feel that if Game 5 was at the Dunk like it should have been, we could have had a chance to pull ourselves out of the hole. Home ice and fan support can help a lot. I also think Hoggan's absence played a part too. He was a key player all season and had 6 points in the first series.

This was a great season, a season to be remember, a team to be remembered!!! I am proud of our team and their accomplishments all season. I hope to see many of them back next season!!!

As far as who I'm rooting for next, NHL-wise I am think the Penguins. Anyone but the Philadelphia Flyers is fine by me. They play too dirty and don't deserve it. AHL-wise I am torn between Syracuse and Rockford. There are former P-Bruin favorite of mine on both teams. lol

I'm glad that you mentioned game five. I also have been thinking and wondering if the whole momentum swing could have stopped if Providence got to play that game at home like they were supposed to. In the NHL, if you get home ice, you play IN the right order of 2-2-1-1-1 and you get four of those games. With all this "fitting in games" stuff, I really believe it starts to affect teams. It definitely makes you wonder.

Get this one. When some on the Boston Bruins mailing list asked about what happened and the whole thing of, "who is in goal" came up, I was met with some comments of, "well, Providence exist for Boston". PLEASE! Yeah, they are the affiliate, but maybe I'm nuts, but you don't go beating someone up about things like that the day after (this was yesterday) their team loses for good. Sheesh!

As for who wins in the AHL, I just care about this next round.. and we know Portland MUCH lose!

I just read a couple of the posts and decided to jump in. First time on. I've been a season ticket holder for 9 years and would say this was the most enjoyable season with a sad ending. Remember sports can be cruel, Ask the Monarchs how they feel back in 2004 the year of the lock out when we beat them in six. Two weekends ago after watching the Bruins embarass the Pirates the first two games of the series I thought Portland would be lucky to win one. The turning point came in game 4 when they tied the game with 53 seconds. They eventually won in ot and gave them life. Missing Hoggan hurt more than people think.

The Bruins looked out of sort back at the dunk Friday night. I knew going into the third period they were in trouble. Gordon should have started Sigalet in the third period to change it up and give them a lift. I will never question the effort of the team this year they played hard every game As far as Mgt telling Gordon who to play I beleive they wanted to see Rask play in all games but Gordon could've have pulled him earlier. Rask had a good season but will need another year of development in Providence. He is not ready for the NHL, I think back to a game a few months ago that ended on a shootout. I don't remember the team they were playing but he let up 4 straight goals in the shootout and looked lost. I realized then he will need another year.

The crowd was embarssing Friday night. Throwing items at the Pirates and not clapping and applauding the effort of the Bruins for there season after the game. It made me sick. I know real P Bruins fans were not throwing anything, only the bandwagon fans. Does anyone know who the free agents are and who is still under contract and will be back? This could be Gordons last year since he is the front runner for the Thrashers job, His faimly lives in Atlanta so it would make perfect sense.

First, I do have a lot of info on contracts, but I don't have time to get into in right now. Probably on Tuesday I'll do a post on who will be back (has more time on their contract). Tuukka Rask,Adam McQuaid, Martins Karsums, T. J. Trevelyan, Wacey Rabbit, Matt Hunwick, Byron Bitz and Matt Hendricks are just some of the players who have at least another year on their contract. I will get back to more on that.

As far as Tuukka, of course he'll be back next year. No goalie gets just one year in the AHL unless they are some phenomenal player. I think that goaltender is one of the hardest positions to be NHL-ready for, personally. And because of that, none of us expected him to carry Providence during the playoffs, but then again... all were heard were rumors/stories that Boston WANTED HIM to play. So, I don't know that we'll ever know.

I agree that the first breaking point was when we were about to win in Game four and Portland tied it with 57 seconds to go. If we had won, it would have been different. But, coming back as they did -- only to see it tie and then loss in OT took a lot out of the team.

And, everyone here knows how I feel about how I think Jordan should have played the next game.

As for the fans...you're right. Most of the jerks that tossed things were the Boston Bruins fans that came down and/or other bandwagon fans. They were not the true P-Bruins fans. We true fans stood there clapping and cheering on (and even yelling out 'thank you Providence') to our team.

I look forward to the contract information when you get a chance. Thanks