As the overtime and double overtime minutes ticked away in Monday’s Game 5, you could feel it coming.

Every time the Lightning entered the attacking zone, you could feel it coming.

And even as the Bruins continued the pressure in the offensive zone throughout most of the 34:10 of extra playoff hockey, you could feel it coming.

Finally, it came.

Victor Hedman’s shot from inside the faceoff circle made its way through traffic and past a screen in front of Jaroslav Halak.

And just like that it was all over.

The Bruins season, their playoff bubble experience, their hopes of getting back to a Stanley Cup Final and this time, coming out on top.

“We’re disappointed,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy.

“We thought we were the better team tonight and we wanted to play on. We put ourselves in a hole obviously, but felt we played well enough to win tonight, get it to game six and then see what happens from there. They’re a good team too. They know how to win, they’ve done it a lot in overtime this season, and they made one more play than we did.”

Cassidy was not wrong that the Bruins were the better team in Game 5. He’s also not wrong in saying the Lightning are a good team too, and a team that was by far the better of the two in the series.

There were a lot of things that went wrong for the Bruins in the series leading to their exit in Game 5. But it’s hard not to think about what could have been had they been the ones to be one play better than the Lightning in their two overtime losses in Game 2 and Game 5.

Instead of identifying and discussing went wrong in the series, the talk by the Bruins following Game 5 was more about the experience, the pain of losing and thinking about what they left on the table.

There will be plenty of time in the days to come to identify and discuss what held them back against a Lightning team that at times, made the Bruins look like they were nowhere close to their level of hockey.

“We thought we had a chance to – Tampa has a great team, don’t get me wrong. Don’t want to take anything away from them, they have a great team,” said Brad Marchand.

“Just, the way things were rolling throughout the season, we thought we were going to go all the way. It’s a huge sacrifice to come here and guys had to really dedicate a lot of time and effort to be here. And it’s kind of a waste of time now.”

Obviously with the nature of this year’s playoffs, it was a tournament like none other. The players had to sacrifice more then ever to reach their goal of winning a Stanley Cup.

“We spent the last three months getting ready for this. Being here and we walk away without anything to show for it,” added Marchand. “It’s tough and you never know how many opportunities you’re going to have to win a cup. We never know if we’re going to be back in the finals again or in even in the playoffs again. Every opportunity missed; it hurts.”

The Bruins were rolling in March when the league was forced to close its doors. Some teams were able to pick up where they left off when hockey returned in August, some were unable to do so.

For Marchand and the Bruins, their season reboot in Toronto’s bubble felt like a whole new season.

“It felt like we were starting a new season. The amount of time we had off was the same as an offseason. It felt like we were having a whole new year,” said Marchand.

“But it doesn’t matter. We’re playing for a cup. We’re playing for the opportunity to win a cup. We were all trying to prepare the best we could. Obviously, every city had different situations, whether guys could skate or not and we tried to prepare as best we could and unfortunately, we fell short.”

Looking back on it now, it’s easy to see the issues the Bruins faced when training camps were allowed to open in July were a sign of things to come. From the issues they faced with getting David Pastrnak and Ondrej Kase on the ice, to the lack of a full team practice before they left for Toronto, things never seemed to feel right for them.

“There was definitely a different training camp with lots of guys coming in and out. Not being able to skate and what not. We really didn’t get the training camp that I’m sure we were hoping for,” said Patrice Bergeron. “That being said, I know that around the league, we weren’t the only team that was going through that. I think that we’ve always been a team that’s been comfortable with the uncomfortable, I guess.”

As the Bruins turn the page to the 2020-21 season which is expected to start in the beginning of December, uncertainty surrounds the Bruins.

Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara enter the offseason as unrestricted free agents. It’s hard to see both being back in a Bruins uniform when the puck does drop in 2020-21.

For the first time in a long time, the Bruins veteran core could lose a key piece or two. Given the situation of Monday’s loss, it’s something that Bergeron now has to think about.

“I think personally anyways, I was coming in trying to be in the moment. I wasn’t trying to think about the future and just trying to enjoy what’s there in front of you. Sometimes there’s too much of that going on,” said Bergeron.

“You think about the past or you think about the future, you don’t really enjoy the present. That’s what I was trying to do and stay there. When a night like tonight happens, that’s when you start thinking about it a little bit more.”

With or without Chara and Krug in the picture, the Bruins future still looks bright. But how much longer that Stanley Cup window remains open is anybody’s guess.

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