The Bruins can take some solace in Panthers being a very good team

BOSTON -- A week has passed since the Boston Bruins -- the greatest regular-season hockey team in the history of the National Hockey League -- were beaten on their own ice in overtime of Game 7 in the first round of the playoffs. 

No, the sting has surely not faded in the city. But time moves forward.

Nothing will ever erase the magnitude of that loss. While a Stanley Cup was never assumed to have been a given for the Bruins, a long playoff run was certainly well within expectations, even with the wild variances that impact postseason hockey.

But with time comes perspective. And with the Florida Panthers eliminating the Bruins in Boston last week, that team has not missed a single beat while moving on to face another tough team in Toronto. 

With no time to rest after the emotional Game 7 win last Sunday, the Panthers opened up their second-round series against the Maple Leafs on Tuesday. They never trailed, and they scored an insurance goal midway through the third period to once again stun a raucous home crowd.

Two nights later, the Leafs grabbed an early 2-0 lead and appeared on their way to getting the series back on track. But the Panthers did what the Panthers do. They threw their relentless forecheck at the Leafs to surprise them with a quick goal. Then they received a gift from Ilya Samsonov on another goal in the opening seconds of the second period. Then 47 seconds later, Matthew Tkachuk -- the Eastern Conference's star of the postseason -- assisted on another goal, and that was that.

In Game 3 on Sunday, back in Florida after nine days, the Panthers fell behind twice. They came back both times, forced overtime, and -- of course -- won the game.

Now the Panthers have a 3-0 series lead, and they're one win away from crushing yet another team and fan base.

With the Bruins, after racking up 65 wins and 135 points while rallying around "one last run" for Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, hopes were as high in Boston as they had been in several years. The Panthers were all too happy to play spoiler.

In Toronto, the Maple Leafs finally broke through, winning a playoff series for the first time since 2004. Luck seemed to break their way by avoiding the Bruins. Many Toronto fans vociferously wanted that to happen, and Panthers fans didn't forget. A trip to the conference finals for the first time since 2002 appeared to be their destiny.

The Panthers are 75 percent of the way toward destroying that dream.

That, of course, won't make things any better for the Bruins. They were supposed to be better than the Panthers. They were supposed to be better than everyone. Failing to win a single playoff series after that regular season will forever stand as a massive disappointment.

But there is at least some solace to be found in the fact that the Panthers' first-round victory was no fluke. They're a team one year removed from a Presidents' Trophy of its own. They're well-coached. They are suffocating. Their two-time Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender awoke at the right time in the playoffs. (Since Paul Maurice made the switch from Alex Lyon to Sergei Bobrovsky in Game 4 against Boston, the Panthers are 6-1.)

As to why the Panthers were overlooked heading into the postseason, they sat at an unremarkable 36-31-7 in late March. After swapping out Jonathan Huberdeau for Tkachuk in the offseason, the Panthers hadn't quite found themselves. But they rattled off six straight wins to make the playoffs. With the benefit of retrospect, it feels safe to say they were rounding into form.

Now, they're one win away from reaching the conference finals. Assuming they get there, it's not unreasonable to believe they could beat New Jersey or Carolina. Not after their first 10 playoff games.

So, yes, the loss is the loss, and it will always be the loss. A blown 3-1 series lead will always be a blown 3-1 series lead. For a purportedly championship-caliber team, there's no excusing that, and there's no discounting the weight of that shortcoming.

But at least with the way that Florida played in those final three wins against Boston and the first three wins against Toronto, we can say with a fair amount of confidence that instead of just calling it a Bruins choke, we can also say the Panthers are no joke. That may not provide much comfort in Boston, but it at least offers some perspective on how and why it happened.