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Bruins save their season with Game 7 comeback |
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Ty Anderson
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At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, it felt fair to say that the often-lauded 'culture' of the Boston Bruins was in jeopardy in the days and hours leading up to Saturday night's Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs at TD Garden.
Had the Bruins lost, they would've become not just the first NHL, but the first team in all of sports, to blow a 3-1 series lead in back-to-back seasons. The Bruins were also going through what felt like a pure mirroring of their 2023 shortcomings against the Panthers, even down to the decisions not to practice between Games 5 and 7, instead holding media availabilities at the airport they fly out of while the jet fires up. And had the Bruins blown the series in the same fashion they did a year ago (and against a rival they've downright owned in postseason play for well over a decade now), all bets were seemingly off. There was no way you could've rationalized what happened or chalk it up to bad luck. It'd be the definition of insanity.
But led by two of their best players being exactly that, and in crunch time, the Bruins saved their season and punched their ticket to the next round with a 2-1 overtime victory.
So, respectfully (and in the best way possible), what the hell happened?
It all began on Friday night. After opting not to get on the ice the day after a gut-punch of a loss in Game 6, the Bruins' Jim Montgomery decided to have his team stay at a hotel in Boston on Friday night. For Montgomery, who has in the past opted to take in Patriots practices and pick the organization's brain back when Bill Belichick was running the show, it was about "eliminating outside noise." Montgomery also met with his team leaders about what they needed to do to live beyond Saturday.
Friday night also featured what teammates called an 'incredible' speech from veteran defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. While this is just his first year with the Bruins, Shattenkirk's message resonated with his team. The message: Don't leave Game 7 with any regrets that keep you up at night.
The Bruins also opted to arrive to TD Garden for the morning skate and to the game in a bus, treating the game as if it were a road game.
And though the Bruins had confidence, and began their Game 7 better than really any other game with the exception of Game 1, the Bruins did find themselves in trouble when William Nylander gave Toronto the lead with the game's first goal near the midway point of the third.
But the B's were quick to answer, and from a player that simply needed to do more for the club, with a shot from the Bruins' Hampus Lindholm beating Ilya Samsonov just 1:21 after the Nylander goal.
"That's the team we are," Lindholm said after the win. "I think during this whole series it's been a lot of ups and downs. But we showed resilience coming back, and we talked about it before the game. So we had some really good, some really good speeches here by a lot of guys in the locker room and we stayed patient and we knew it was going to come."
Off to Game 7 overtime in the first round for the second time in as many years, it would've been easier for the ghosts of what happened in 2023 to creep into the Bruins' heads.
"I mean last year was such an empty feeling. But for me, like, us having to go to a Game 7, having to go to overtime the exact same [way], you could feel there was a big difference in our room all night long and going into overtime," Montgomery offered. "I said to the staff, 'You know, we've gone overtime in the playoffs now four times and I believe twice last year and once this year. You didn't feel like we were going to seize the moment.' I felt and I told the staff that, I said, I've never felt this confident about our group going into overtime.
"You could just tell there was a difference in our attitude."
Swayman shines, but what's next?
What an absolutely masterful series from B's netminder Jeremy Swayman.
In goal for six of Boston's seven games in this series, the 25-year-old Swayman shined with a .950 save percentage, and was absolute nails in every single outing. One thing that stuck out about Swayman in this series: He refused to give the Leafs any cheapies. I don't believe that there was a single bad goal scored on No. 1 throughout his outings.
"Well, I mean, he was our best player in the series [and] it's not close, right?" Montgomery said of Swayman. "And, I think that his confidence and his swagger, I think it permeated through the group. Took a while, but it got there."
But now comes the question of what do the Bruins do from here?
With such a quick turnaround between Game 7 against Toronto and Monday's Game 1 against the Panthers, is it time for the Bruins to give Linus Ullmark what would be his first look since Game 2 against Toronto back on Apr. 22? It may seem absolutely crazy, but there's a couple of things worth noting here. Should the Bruins stick with Swayman, that would make it five starts in 10 days for Swayman. That's a pace that is not exactly familiar to him. Secondly, Ullmark has been electric against the Panthers this year, with a 3-0-0 record and .947 save percentage against Florida during the regular season this year.
Full Bruins-Panthers schedule
Game 1: Monday, May 6 (8 p.m.) in Sunrise.
Game 2: Wednesday, May 8 (TBD) in Sunrise.
Game 3: Friday, May 10 (TBD) in Boston.
Game 4: Sunday, May 12 (TBD) in Boston.
Game 5: Tuesday, May 14 (TBD) in Sunrise (if necessary).
Game 6: Friday, May 17 (TBD) in Boston (if necessary).
Game 7: Sunday, May 19 (TBD) in Sunrise (if necessary).
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