No one around here was ready for this.

A Boston team losing a championship game? Impossible.

But it happened. The Bruins were spanked, 4-1, on Garden ice in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final Wednesday. The St. Louis Blues won the first championship in their 52-year history. A Boston hockey season that started in September in Beijing ended in abject disappointment nine days before the start of summer. It was a stunning defeat in an era when we have become accustomed to only good things happening to Boston teams. And it feels like a lost opportunity.

The Bruins had more speed and skill than hard-hitting St. Louis but ultimately succumbed to the smash-mouth Blues. After eight weeks of stellar playoff goaltending, the noble Tuukka Rask will have to live with the notion that once again he did not win the big one. The Finnish Flash could not finish. Meanwhile, Boston’s top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and David Pastrnak faded to black.

continued