On Friday, two days after losing Game 7, the Bruins reconvened at Warrior Ice Arena for exit interviews. Most of them had shaved. Some cut their hair. These are cosmetic improvements compared to the deep physical and emotional healing they will require. Here, in their own words, are the Bruins’ deep, authentic displays of pain, anguish and, finally, pride.
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First, pain:
Noel Acciari: foot, fractured sternum, injured hand/finger
“Quite a few (injuries). So I fractured my sternum. So I was playing with that. My hand and finger. A couple things. Stanley Cup finals, you don’t want to miss. You do what you do to play.”
“That was in the Columbus series (sternum). I just got hit weird and just kind of folded in. But took care of it quick. Was able to bounce back and able to go when the team needed me.”
“It’s the Stanley Cup playoffs. You don’t want to miss that. You don’t know the next time you’ll be there. You want to play. You’ve got Z, broken jaw, plays two days out of surgery. It’s unbelievable what the body goes through. Just shows how bad guys just want to play.”
“I thought mine was bad, but then he goes and does that. Next thing you know, he’s playing two days out of surgery. Can’t open his mouth. Struggling to eat. That’s why he’s our captain. He leads by example.”
Patrice Bergeron: groin
“It started a little bit against Carolina, last game against Carolina. With the break, it helped. But it came right back again in Game 1.”
Zdeno Chara: broken jaw, lower-body injury
Zdeno Chara played with a full face mask following his jaw injury. (Winslow Townson / USA Today)“I got multiple fractures. It’s been reinforced with two plates and some wires and screws. It was an amazing job they were able to put together in a quick turnaround of 36 hours from the end of Game 4 and beginning of Game 5.”
“I think I’m able to tolerate pain. I was able to just focus on the game and what was ahead of us. You have to accept that the game of sports brings some pain and sacrifices that you should be willing to accept.”
“I’m trying to smile (for my children). I have to wait until it’s a little more flexible. They know. Sometimes as a father, it’s hard to see your children look at you and see your pain. But I try to do my best to cheer them up and not to show it.”
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“You cannot chew much. It was pretty much a liquid diet the whole time the next two days. Yeah, that was kind of challenging. We managed and we did everything we could to make it work and be ready. After that, you find ways to get small pieces of food in you and maintaining the nutrition part the best you can.”
“(The jaw) is pretty much the way it’s going to be for the next five weeks. The wires inside my mouth, they will come out at some point. I went for a few scans and MRIs (on other injuries). I’m waiting to see what else is going to be needed for this offseason. It was those playoff runs that a few things started bothering me. It was just a matter of after all it’s done, it’s going to be looked at.”
Jake DeBrusk: head
“I think everyone saw in Game 2 against Toronto (with Nazem Kadri’s cross-check). From then on, I was kind of battling some things here and there. Nothing I didn’t think I could play through. This time of year, it’s just a matter of will.”
“It was a challenge, especially playing every second night for almost two straight months was tough. There’s different things that happen throughout the games and different situations for me personally. You just try and take notes and try learning things you see from the older guys, especially around those times where you feel like you don’t have your legs or you feel you don’t really have anything going on and there’s different kind of stuff hindering you. That’s when you look to the older guys to understand how they prepare and how they get through things too. I’m not the only one. There’s lots of guys on both sides dealing with stuff.”
Brandon Carlo: undisclosed
“Playoffs was rough. Lingering issues in the body. But overall, pretty fine. Definitely felt 100 percent and could play another game if I needed to. All good in that aspect.”
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David Krejci: undisclosed
“Everyone goes through some injuries. I don’t want to talk about what I went through. Just want to take a couple weeks, just clear my head and enjoy some time with my family.”
Torey Krug: undisclosed:
“Just nagging stuff like everyone else. Nothing specific. That’s all.”
Brad Marchand: groin, abdominal, sprained hand
“It’s on me.”
Kevan Miller: two fractures to his kneecap
“The second-to-last game against Minnesota, went into the boards awkwardly, fractured my kneecap vertically. I had surgery two or three days after that. Put some screws in it to make it better. Things were going well. (General manager Don Sweeney) and everybody said there’s a possibility of getting back for the finals. My goal was to be back for that. About five weeks, I was through the rehab. I was in Carolina, getting ready to skate after the guys. During the rehab, it re-fractured. That was basically the end of me coming back for the finals. I went and had surgery again. Some more hardware in it. Now here we are.”
John Moore: shoulder, humerus
“I need to get shoulder surgery. When I got hit in Tampa (on March 25) and left the game, I got pretty banged up with my humerus and my shoulder. I’m getting shoulder surgery next week. They’ve told me right now it’s 4-6 months. So hopefully, optimistically, it’s a little shorter than that.”
“The precedent’s set when guys like Bergy are going into a hospital right after games a couple years back. So the decision to hold off surgery and be available to help the team in any way was really not a decision at all. It was the trainers and doctors doing an outstanding job of getting it to the point where I could play. Then understanding the limitations of my injury and trying to work within that. It would have been that much sweeter to get over the hump there with all the adversity that injury threw my way.”
Joakim Nordstrom: undisclosed
“When you go through 82 games and you go to Game 7 of the finals, there’s definitely some bumps and bruises. But nothing major.”
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David Pastrnak: aggravated thumb
“Just my thumb didn’t feel the same way. Got a hit in the second round to it. It was a little better, I think. It was all right. But it definitely didn’t feel the same way.”
Next, anguish:
David Backes: “I’m not naive. If you’ve got a chance to win the Stanley Cup, you put your best lineup out there and try to win the game. I wasn’t one of those guys. It’s one of the things that, digesting, I don’t experience the loss, per se, firsthand. I don’t sit out there and say what I could have done more in Game 7, because I was shaking my pom-poms as hard as I could. You don’t score any goals shaking pom-poms or whatever. That is conflicting me a bit. I don’t know where that leads. I wish I had answers for you. I don’t. Those are the things I cannot control. I don’t necessarily try to. Did it take up some headspace? Sure. But those are in someone else’s hands.”
Bergeron: “It’s been hard. A lot of hard work to get to that point and put yourself in that position. Really tough to come out empty-handed.”
Bergeron struggled through a groin issue, contributing to an underwhelming finals performance. (Greg M. Cooper / USA Today)“It’s just an empty feeling. You have that bitter taste in your mouth. It’s not going away for now.”
DeBrusk: “That feeling doesn’t really go away. I haven’t dodged that one yet. I’m just trying to see the positives out of this year in general. But it doesn’t really matter if you don’t win the last game of the year.”
“We’re all going to sit here and say we’re going to try and move on from it and take steps in that direction. We’re so close as a group. We all believed we were going to win it. We believed we were right there. We got a taste of it. Then they just shut us right down. That’s probably the worst thing. Every year, you don’t know if you’re going to have the same team again. Usually you don’t in this league. I thought our group was excellent through and through.”
Matt Grzelcyk: “It stings that much more, seeing the emotions start to kick in with some of the guys that you hadn’t really seen that side of them before. Just hurts not to win that last game.”
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Krejci: “It’s hard to accept. Like I said after the game, this is going to stay with me for the rest of my life. Learn how to live with that.”
Karson Kuhlman: “Every man in that locker room on this team gave everything they had for the group. Obviously not easy coming up that short.”
Nordstrom: “It’s extremely tough. It’s been a lot of thinking. A lot of staring at the ceiling. It’s been tough.”
“I still don’t think I’ve completely realized it’s over for this time. It’s been tough. But you’ve got to try and get back to your life and move on.”
Marchand: “I thought (Jaden Schwartz) was by himself (in Game 7). I thought the play was dead. Obviously it wasn’t. It was a bad read. Just read the situation a little differently and that’s the difference. One play can affect the outcome of the game. Unfortunately that was it.”
Moore: “The talent and the cohesiveness of this group is well-known. To see it up close, you definitely thought you had the intangibles to compete for a Cup. We did that. But 48 hours post-mortem here, it still stings like it did the other night. It will for a long time.”
Tuukka Rask. “Right after the game, it’s a very empty feeling. It’s over. There’s no tomorrow. To me, it’s just right after the game, that’s it. I don’t know it’s still sunk in or not. I’m sure it’s going to be in the back of your head for a long time.”
Finally, pride:
Carlo: “I loved it. I feel very blessed to be part of this situation. You take steps as an NHL player, first making the league, then becoming a full-time player. Then you look forward to playing in the playoffs and doing all that. It was my first experience in the playoffs. I enjoyed every minute except for the last one. I felt like I grew a lot as a player this year. Enjoyed being part of this group. So special to build these friendships. Hope to build a lot more of them and continue with a lot of the same guys in this room.”
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Charlie Coyle: “We know we can get to that point again and push even more. It’s a great group in here. There’s no question why we’re in this position and how far we got. There’s a lot of good in this locker room. The depth we have, the leadership — this stuff can only help you. Going through hard times, it’s through that adversity that you learn from it. You’ve got to take it as a positive. Bad things happen. Sometimes you lose. It’s how you come back, be resilient and have the mindset to want it even more because of what happened. I know this group is capable of that. That’ll be our mindset. It’s there for us if we want to do it again.”
Connor Clifton: “It was quite the experience. Lot of great guys in here. It was awesome to be a part of.”
Krug: “It’s not just one summer. It’s not just one season. These runs are years in the making. Between the core group of guys and the youth that has energized this team, it’s all years in the making. Hopefully it’s another step on our journey to getting another Cup.”
Charlie McAvoy: “I wouldn’t trade the experience for the world. We made it farther than a lot of people make it in their whole career. There’s nothing to really be ashamed of. It came down to one game. It just wasn’t meant to be. But I wouldn’t trade one guy or one experience. Everything happens for a reason. I’ll look back on this year, the relationships and what we’ve been through. This is the stuff that helps you grow as a human being and a player.”
Nordstrom: “We’ve been playing for each other since we got back. We became a team in September. It’s been a lot of really fun moments. We’ve been through a lot together. It’s been an absolute treat coming to the rink every day and being with the guys we have on our team. Just putting everything out there for each other, we really gave everything we have for each other.”
Pastrnak: “This is going to hurt forever. But I’m extremely proud I could be part of this group. I love these guys so much. We had a lot of fun together this year. We were so fair to each other no matter how old are you or how many years you’ve been in the NHL. We were so close to each other. We had some injuries. Whoever they came in the lineup, we always treated everybody the same. It was a lot of fun. It’s been an honor for me to be part of a team like this. You don’t get a group like this every year.”
Rask. “It’s over. Great season. Great run. We fell one win short. You’re always going to think about what happened. But there’s nothing you can do about it now. You’ve just got to be proud of how you battled and how everybody worked together. It’s sport. It’s not fair. One team has to win. One team has to lose.”
(Top photo: Stan Grossfeld / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
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