Another year, another early exit from a Bruce Boudreau-led club.
Magnus Paajarvi broke the hearts of the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, ending the team's comeback hopes in Game 5 and beyond with a beautiful wrist shot for his first career playoff goal.
Related - Watch: Paajarvi's OT snipe sends Blues to 2nd round
The win was huge for the Blues, who entered the series as underdogs against the second-ranked team in the Western Conference.
For the Blues, the win is a great achievement, but for Boudreau, it marks an all-too-familiar trend of his teams making early exits from the playoffs.
For the second straight year, Boudreau has watched his team be sent packing in the first round after his Anaheim Ducks were ousted by the Nashville Predators in seven games a year ago.
However, this year was slightly different as it was the first time in Boudreau's nine trips to the playoffs that his team wasn't the division winner. Still, with 106 regular-season points, the Wild were no slouch and were expected to have a better fate.
Nevertheless, the Wild are just the latest in Boudreau's failed attempts at Stanley Cup glory.
| Year | Team | Division Ranking | Round Eliminated (Games Played) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 07-08 | Capitals | 1 | 1 (7) |
| 08-09 | Capitals | 1 | 2 (14) |
| 09-10 | Capitals | 1 | 1 (7) |
| 10-11 | Capitals | 1 | 2 (9) |
| 12-13 | Ducks | 1 | 1 (7) |
| 13-14 | Ducks | 1 | 2 (13) |
| 14-15 | Ducks | 1 | 3 (16) |
| 15-16 | Ducks | 1 | 1 (7) |
| 16-17 | Wild | 2 | 1 (5) |
What makes his early exits all the more surprising is that his teams have generally posted incredible regular-season records.
In fact, Boudreau's career points percentage of .658 is the highest in NHL history of any coach with more than 210 games coached.
All this considered, it's hard to knock Boudreau for his team's effort in the series. The Wild averaged the second most shots per game at 36.4, while giving up a playoff low 26.8.
Call it bad luck, call it a curse, call it what have you, but once again a Boudreau-coached team's season has come to an end much earlier than expected.
Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.