Wednesday should have been the winner-take-all exclamation point to the 2013 hockey season for the Bruins. They were just over a minute from securing a Game 7 at the United Center in Chicago.
Instead, the Bruins’ bosses will be conducting exit interviews at TD Garden. They will start to recover from Monday night’s 3-2 loss and reload for 2013-14.
The players have earned the right to begin their offseason decompression. No such opportunity is available for general manager Peter Chiarelli and his hockey operations colleagues.
There should be extensions coming for center Patrice Bergeron and goalie Tuukka Rask, but the more time-sensitive decision involves right wing Nathan Horton, who is due to become an unrestricted free agent July 5. Full story for BostonGlobe.com subscribers.
Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeFluto.
