Seldom does a city watch two of its teams lose Game 7 in their home arena over the course of four days.

That's what fans are still dealing with in Boston after watching the Celtics get dominated by the Orlando Magic Sunday night in the final game of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

The Magic went to Boston and bullied the defending champions from the opening tip. They were bigger, stronger and better. They had their way with the Celts, paying no respect to the team that won it all last spring.

Orlando was the better team in Game 7 – and the better team in the series. Truth is, if not for the buzzer-beater by Glen Davis in Game 4, the Magic would have won the series well before Sunday night. Suddenly, the Celtics' top players look old and ailing.

That loss came three days after the Bruins played the ultimate version of "next goal wins" with the Carolina Hurricanes, as Game 7 of the series went to sudden-death overtime.

The death of a series doesn't get more sudden than the way the rug was pulled out from under the Bruins on Thursday night. With 1:14 remaining in the first overtime, most of the 17,565 fans were wondering if they should sprint for the bathroom in preparation for a second overtime.

But there would be no second OT – just that sudden death. Scott Walker, who threw the sucker punch that should've cost him a lot more than a $2,500 fine, batted a puck out of the air and past goalie Tim Thomas, sending the Hurricanes past the Bruins and into the conference finals.

Walker had become Public Enemy No. 1 over the course of the series, and rightfully so. That status was lessened somewhat with the stunning announcement this weekend that his wife had been diagnosed with cervical cancer during the series. While our hearts go out to Walker, it doesn't diminish the impact of his goal on a crowd chanting "we want it" just moments before his goal.

That's when nearly 18,000 people inhaled as one. I have never heard a building go as quiet as quickly as the TD Banknorth Garden after that goal.

In the hours after the loss, the debate in Boston was over the meaning of this hockey season. Was it a failure, an embarrassing end to another season without a Stanley Cup?

No. This was the winter that made hockey in Boston relevant again. The Garden rocked to sellout crowds night after night, and fans were introduced to a new generation of blue-collar players. For a full four weeks, we were reminded there is nothing better than playoff hockey.

Actually, the only thing better is two months of playoff hockey. That's not going to happen this spring, but there is reason to believe it could happen in the not-too-distant future.

So, which felt worse, the shocking overtime loss or the stunning one-sided blowout?

Truth is, they were equally brutal. Now a long, empty summer begins on Causeway Street.

Tom Caron is the studio host for Red Sox broadcasts on the New England Sports Network. His column appears in the Press Herald on Tuesdays.