You can't always get what you want, Bruins fans.
In this case, they didn't get what they needed, either.
But there were at least 19 nervous breakdowns watching Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals Wednesday night and Thursday morning from Chicago.
The fifth longest game in Stanley Cup Finals history ended with a frustrating and agonizing 4-3 Bruins loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Before it was over, there were appearances by rainbows, President Obama , the Rolling Stones and Tim Tebow in the Boston area.
Omens for everyone.
How could this happen?
And yes, the word "f--k" was a trending topic on Twitter in Boston minutes after the double-deflected goal credited to Andrew Shaw ended this excruciating affair.
Says it all.
This is something not unique to this franchise, both the "f-bombs" and back-breaking triple-overtime losses in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Bruins lost the longest game in Stanley Cup Final history to Petr Klima and the Edmonton Oilers back in 1990 at the original Boston Garden before being swept by the eventual Mark Messier-led champs.
The Bruins managed not to trail in a hockey game from the second period on May 25 (Game 5 against the Rangers) until June 12, the day of Game 1 against the Blackhawks. Unfortunately for those in the Eastern time zone, Game 1 ended at 1 a.m. on June 13
The Bruins had at least seven legitimate chances to win this game after the Blackhawks rallied to tie it at 3-3 after trailing by a pair of goals with just over eight minutes to play. And the two goals Chicago scored to tie things up came as a the result of an ill-advised Tory Krug pass over the middle and a later goal that followed a deflected shot off Andrew Ference's skate. The initial shot was good 18 inches off the goal and Ference and his skate were behind Tuukka Rask.
Anyone who rips Rask after this game knows less about hockey than Kim Kardashian.
The Bruins need to blow up Ference's skate just like the Cubs did with the Steve Bartman ball.
The Bruins goalie stopped 59 of 63 shots. His teammates threw a block party that left the United Center mostly silent for the first half of this 112:08 affair. In all, the Blackhawks attempted 132 shots to Boston’s 85. And Chicago goalie Corey Crawford was equally stellar, stopping several breakaways and benefiting from several, ahem, "backchecks" that occurred in the crease or just out in front of the net.
Of all the agonizing chances the Bruins had to win the game, Zdeno Chara pinged a blast during a power play at the end of the second overtime, the one that triggered the most "F-bombs" came courtesy of Kaspar Daugavins.
"Good job, good effort." Probably nether.
He went right to the dog house after fanning on an open net on Crawford's short side and instead trying to skate past the net and score on a backhander.
"I just missed it," Doggy said. "I should have just gone up and scored."
Not a good idea to pass up an open net in triple-overtime to try for style points. Next time he has a chance to win a Stanley Cup Final game on the road in triple-overtime, he'll probably not pass up the first shot. Let's hope there is no next time.
Once again, a Crawford was screwing over Boston and it wasn't 2011. This time, it cost the Bruins a 1-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals. Corey was much better at making big plays against the Bruins than his brother-from-another-mother Carl ever was making them for Red Sox.
The game certainly showed the Bruins were not built to last through triple-overtime. The vaunted fourth line went from "Fribble" and "Merlot" to "Fizzle" and "Ripple." The loss of Nathan Horton to an injury, the lumbering play of Jaomir Jagr, the man is older than "Wolverine," and the frustratingly unproductive play of Tyler Seguin leaves the Bruins with just one line that can be counted on to produce on offense. Seguin appeared ever youthful as the game dragged on, partly because he managed to play 17 light years of hockey without taking or delivering a hit.
The Bruins showed reassuring poise and calm after the gut-wrenching-to-watch loss. There was no panic from Rask or any of his teammates. This same unit lost the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final in Vancouver just two years ago. So there's some historic precedent for this thing going either way.
Historic precedent from 1990 or 2011 doesn't mean much of anything when you're playing in 2013. The Bruins played nearly two complete games and game up with nothing but a loss and an injury to Horton. There was nothing fun or enjoyable about this game, that took nearly five hours to complete, for anyone who was rooting for Boston. It gave us the playoff hockey angina, angst and excitement we all bargained for as the Bruins rolled through the early playoff rounds. But none of that is worth it in a loss. Sure, it's all entertainment at its core and there the Bruins and Blackhawks delivered in spades.
But after all the hyperbole and breathless commentary by the NBC announcing crew, the leaps and curses on the couch and nut-busting physical effort by the Bruins, all that was left was a raucous United Center, a bunch of celebrating Blackhawks and the Bruins left wondering how they'll come back Saturday after their hearts were torn out and shown to their faces in the sixth period.
I can't get no satisfaction
I can't get no satisfaction
'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can't get no, I can't get no..
Mick Jagger/Keith Richards (Satisfaction, 1965)
Game 2 is Saturday night on NBC Blue Channel Z, also known as NBC Sports Network.
Rest up.
