Let it be known that the publicly-stated allure of a Game 7 begins with a complete lie. They call it the two best words in sports. It’s most definitely not that. It’s the most stressful, agonizing, and painful two words in sports.
Saturday will come with either the highest of highs or the lowest of lows. There is absolutely zero in-between as a fan.
But when it comes to the Boston Bruins, this is N-O-T-H-I-N-G new.
Thursday’s win on TD Garden ice locked the Bruins into what’s an NHL-record 29th Game 7 in their franchise’s history. No matter what happened Thursday, their 28 was already an NHL record, by the way, with a three-Game 7 lead on the next-closest team. (We are all going to die about 10 years earlier than we’re supposed to and the Bruins are absolutely to blame.)
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – APRIL 23: Charlie Coyle #13 of the Boston Bruins reacts after scoring a goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the third period of Game Seven of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden on April 23, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
And when it comes to Game 7 contests, there’s no denying that these post-2005 lockout Bruins love their seventh games.
Since the start of the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Bruins have played a Game 7 a staggering 12 times. That’s tied with the Capitals for the most over that span (and the Bruins are set to jump them Saturday after Washington failed to win their must-win Game 6 against the Panthers on Friday night). And of their 12 postseason runs from 2008 through 2021, only the 2017 playoffs, 2020 playoffs, and 2021 playoffs failed to come with a Game 7 contest for the Bruins.
Boston’s record in those 12 winner-take-all Game 7 affairs? An even 6-6, including a 2-1 record in Game 7s coached by Bruce Cassidy, with the 2019 Stanley Cup Final sticking out as the lone loss (and perhaps worst loss in team history, honestly).
VANCOUVER, BC – JUNE 15: Zdeno Chara #33 of the Boston Bruins celebrates with the Stanley Cup after defeating the Vancouver Canucks in Game Seven of the 2011 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Arena on June 15, 2011 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
For all of the Black and Gold’s franchise experience in a Game 7, Saturday will mark just the sixth time that the Bruins have taken the ice of a Game 7 as the visiting team. It will also be their first Game 7 as a road team since the 2011 Stanley Cup Final in Vancouver, which went down as the only Game 7 road win in the franchise’s history. (They sure made it count.)
The Bruins currently have two players from that 2011 Game 7 still on their roster with the top-line one-two punch of Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron still in that role, while then-player Chris Kelly is currently on the B’s coaching staff.
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 24: Brock McGinn #23 of the Carolina Hurricanes celebrates his game-winning goal with teammates against the Washington Capitals at 11:05 of the second overime period in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Capital One Arena on April 24, 2019. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
The Hurricanes, by the way, have made all their Game 7 contests count since moving down to North Carolina, with the ex-Whalers boasting a perfect 5-0 record in this scenario.
All five of those wins have come in the post-2005 lockout era of hockey, with their last Game 7 experience having come back in 2019 against the Capitals. One of those five victories came against the Bruins, too, with a Game 7 overtime win over Boston in the 2009 Eastern Conference Semifinals.
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA – MAY 14: The Bruins celebrate after defeating the Carolina Hurricanes in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Finals during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at PNC Arena on May 14, 2019. (Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
Hey speaking of 2009 against Carolina…
If you’re a lunatic like me, you noticed that today is May 14 and you’re suddenly walking on eggshells. May 14th? Horrible. Horrible. This is worse than Friday The 13th Part II. Worse than Friday The 13th Part III. This is not a great day in this era of Bruins hockey. The Bruins lost Game 7 to the Hurricanes on May 14, 2009, and officially blew their 3-0 series lead and 3-0 in-game lead to the Flyers on May 14, 2010. Not the best of days for the Bruins and a Game 7, I gotta admit.
But, if you’re a believer in exorcising demons: They’re due for a Game 7 win on May 14. Oh, and they defeated the Hurricanes in Carolina on May 14 back in 2019 (though that was Game 3, not the series-clinching Game 4).
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA – MAY 10: Fans cheer during the third period in Game Five of the First Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Boston Bruins at PNC Arena on May 10, 2022 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
This has been called a ‘homer’ series, and rightfully so, with the home team winning all six games to date.
This isn’t anything all that new to the NHL playoffs. The Bruins experienced this through the first six games of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final before they bucked the trend in Game 7, and the Hurricanes actually went through the same pattern against the Capitals in 2019.
Should the home team win all seven game of this series, it would mark just the fourth time in modern Bruins history that they were involved in a series in which the home team won every game. (Quick shoutout to pal and unofficial Bruins historian Mick Colageo and an old blog of his for some extra help on that one.)
