Toronto Maple Leafs players celebrate after one of William Nylander’s two goals Thursday night against Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman in a 2-1 victory that tied the first-round playoff series at 3-3. Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP
TORONTO — Sheldon Keefe perfectly summed up what Game 7 of the first-round playoff series between the Boston Bruins and his Toronto Maple Leafs will mean when they meet one more time Saturday night.
“When your backs are against the wall and you’re facing elimination, you’re going to be remembered one way or the other,” he said after his team won Game 6, 2-1, to force the deciding game. “How do you want that to be or to look?”
That’s true in any Game 7. But it’s especially true in this Game 7.
The Maple Leafs already have a reputation for folding in the playoffs, a reputation Boston has helped push them to and one that will be further cemented if they lose.
The Bruins are teetering on the cliff’s edge to join them in that undesirable club. A year after losing three straight games to fall to Florida in seven games, they’re staring down a repeat.
Less than a week after a Boston series win seemed like a foregone conclusion, it feels like the Bruins would need a miracle to advance to the second round. The first-round series is 3-3, but there’s nothing even about it now. Toronto has momentum, confidence, and the hotter of the two goalies.
The Bruins won’t just be facing the Maple Leafs at 8 p.m. Saturday at TD Garden. They’re up against a lot more than that.
They are playing to advance to the second round, but they’re also battling to avoid a disaster. If Boston blows a 3-1 lead for the second straight year, it would become part of this team’s DNA, and part of its legacy.
Their heart, their manhood and the ability of their star players to deliver will all be questioned if they don’t win. A victory would not produce joy as much as it would relief.
Jim Montgomery might be coaching for his job. It would be hard to fire somebody whose regular-season record has been as absurdly good as his has been. But this would be two years in a row that the Bruins collapsed in the playoffs as a higher seed with a big lead. And in both series, specific decisions have come under fire.
At best, he’d start next year on a much hotter seat. Whatever he does or doesn’t do will be under heavy scrutiny on Saturday.
David Pastrnak will come under fire, too, after a tough series.
Often a source of sneaky wisdom, Charlie McAvoy’s made a great point earlier in the week.
“You’re against not only your opponent, but human nature, too,” he said.
At that point, he was talking about how Boston hadn’t been mature enough not to let up with a two-game series lead. But now human nature is listening to the loudening voices of doubt, some from inside their own head, but many on the radio, television and internet. They have to block that out, and it won’t be easy.
If they win, they can put all of this behind them. Given all the Bruins lost from their 2022-23 roster, getting to the second round would inarguably be a successful season, and whatever happens against a higher-seeded Florida team happens with house money. They could go into 2024-25 with cap space and optimism about what they’re building.
But lose, and everything they do comes under a harsh spotlight. There’s no middle ground.
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