Bruins outplayed by Maple Leafs in Recreation 6, organising Recreation 7 in Boston – CBS Boston

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By Michael Hurley, WBZ.com Sports activities
Could 2, 2024 / 10:51 PM EDT / CBS Boston
BOSTON — Buckle up, Bruins followers. Boston will likely be internet hosting a Recreation 7. Once more.
With a second probability to wrap up their first-round sequence in opposition to the Maple Leafs, the Bruins got here up brief but once more on Thursday night time, shedding 2-1 in Recreation 6. That loss got here after a dud-level efficiency by the Bruins in Boston in Recreation 5, which leaves the crew going through a win-or-go-home Recreation 7 on Saturday night time at TD Backyard. The Bruins are actually very a lot liable to blowing a 3-1 lead within the opening spherical of the playoffs for a second consecutive yr.
The Bruins mustered only one shot on objective within the first interval and had been badly outplayed to begin the second interval, too. Late in that second interval, the Leafs took a 1-0 lead on a shot from William Nylander, with Charlie McAvoy blocking Jeremy Swayman’s imaginative and prescient of the puck.  
WILLY STYLES!!! 😎 pic.twitter.com/9otOYrJbKG
With Boston determined for a game-tying objective late within the third interval, Nylander struck once more, this time strolling in on their own into the Bruins’ zone and slipping a backhand by Swayman’s five-hole with 2:13 remaining within the sport.
COOL CALM AND IN STYLE!! 😎 pic.twitter.com/RZPixjg5hL
Morgan Geekie scored a objective for Boston with 0.1 seconds left in regulation, however it finally solely proved to spoil Joseph Woll’s shutout whereas permitting for a mini-scrum at middle ice following the faceoff on the last buzzer. Woll stopped 22 of the 23 photographs he confronted, and he is now 2-0 with a .964 save proportion since taking the crease from Ilya Samsonov.
Swayman was wonderful once more for Boston, stopping 24 photographs, however it as soon as once more got here in a shedding effort.
For the Bruins and the followers who will pack the constructing on Saturday night time, a Recreation 7 — particularly, a Recreation 7 on dwelling ice in opposition to Toronto — is something however unfamiliar territory.
Simply final yr, the Bruins led the Panthers 3-1 of their first-round sequence earlier than shedding Recreation 5 and 6 to arrange a Recreation 7. In that Recreation 7 on dwelling ice, the Bruins let a 3-2 lead slip away within the last minute of regulation earlier than shedding on a Carter Verhaeghe game-winner 8:35 into time beyond regulation.
A yr prior, the Bruins received Recreation 6 at dwelling to drive a Recreation 7 in Carolina, a sport that the Hurricanes received 3-2 to advance to the second spherical.
Although final yr’s crew put collectively a traditionally profitable regular-season marketing campaign, these two Recreation 7’s pale compared to the magnitude of the notorious Recreation 7 of the Stanley Cup Last in 2019. In that one, the Bruins fell behind late within the first interval earlier than permitting that deficit to develop to 2-0 simply earlier than the primary intermission. The visiting Blues stretched the result in 3-0 after which 4-0 within the third interval, with the Bruins finally shedding 4-1 and having to observe the Blues parade the Stanley Cup across the TD Backyard ice.
Understandably, hockey followers in Boston might really feel a bit uneasy heading into Saturday night time.
In the event that they’re on the lookout for a motive to really feel optimistic, although, there may be the truth that the Bruins performed one other Recreation 7 in that 2019 postseason run, they usually beat the Maple Leafs in Boston by a 5-1 last rating to get out of the primary spherical.
And the yr earlier than that, in 2018, the Bruins likewise wanted a Recreation 7 within the first spherical, a sport that in addition they received … in opposition to Toronto.
The Bruins did lose a Recreation 7 within the second spherical in opposition to Montreal in 2014, although in 2013, nicely, as everyone remembers, the Bruins famously beat the Maple Leafs in Recreation 7 of the primary spherical.
Simply to spherical out the Recreation 7 historical past of what we are able to name probably the most fashionable period of Bruins hockey, the crew misplaced Recreation 7’s in 2008, 2009 and 2010 to Montreal, Carolina and Philadelphia, respectively. However they received three Recreation 7’s — in opposition to Montreal, Tampa Bay and Vancouver — en path to profitable the Cup in 2011. Then the 2012 crew misplaced in Recreation 7 of the primary spherical to Washington.
Previous to 2008, the Bruins performed in only one Recreation 7 — in 2004 — within the earlier 13 years. But since 2008, the Bruins may have performed in 15 Recreation 7’s in a 16-year span.
Add within the nervousness that comes from watching the Bruins get outplayed for 2 consecutive video games after taking a 3-1 sequence lead, and it is rather a lot for the area’s collective coronary heart fee to deal with.
The frequent thread although all of these video games? There may be none. A Recreation 7 within the Stanley Cup Playoffs is frenzied and unpredictable, and although groups must play nicely to win, the ultimate consequence can usually come off an odd bounce or unhealthy break. Some are high-scoring, some are low-scoring. Some are tight, some are blowouts. And a few — the very best of the very best or worst of the worst, relying in your outlook — require time beyond regulation.
It is probably the most chaotic occasion in sports activities. Recreation 7 within the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It is one thing that everyone ought to expertise once in a while, however it’s one thing the Bruins have endured a bit greater than they’d most likely prefer to through the years.
And it is coming for Boston on Saturday night time.
Michael Hurley is a digital sports activities producer at wbz.com. He is labored at WBZ for greater than 10 years. Beforehand, he coated Boston sports activities for NESN.com.
First revealed on Could 2, 2024 / 10:51 PM EDT
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©2024 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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