"This is going to allow us to showcase that we're a team that's grown," Foligno said.
Adversity for the Blue Jackets and their captain isn't trailing 3-2 in the Eastern Conference Second Round and going home to play Game 6 of the best-of-7 series at Nationwide Arena on Monday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
RELATED: [Complete Bruins vs. Blue Jackets series coverage]
Adversity for the Blue Jackets was having to battle demons threatening to invade their dressing room all season because of the uncertainty about forward Artemi Panarin and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. Would they be staying put? Would they go to battle for their teammates if they did?
Adversity was Columbus having to battle to get into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the final two weeks of the season after they kept Panarin and Bobrovsky and then went all-in before the 2019 NHL Trade Deadline, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen putting the pressure on the Blue Jackets to make good on those gifts. They went 7-1-0 in their last eight games and clinched a playoff berth April 5, the penultimate day of the regular season.
Adversity for Foligno was having to leave the Blue Jackets twice in the regular season to be with his ailing children, 5-year-old daughter Milana who needed open heart surgery Dec. 31 and 1-year-old son Hudson who was hospitalized March 11 because of pneumonia and four days later had a collapsed lung.
"What we go through isn't pressure," Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski said earlier in the series. "What he went through as a family, that's pressure. What he went through is some serious stuff."
But in hockey parlance, with a dressing room full of perspective, the Blue Jackets are in a serious situation now, their promising season on the brink of ending, the need to win their first literal must-win game of the season to push the series back to Boston for Game 7 on Wednesday.
Columbus coach John Tortorella predicted it will happen after Game 5, saying, "We'll be back here for Game 7."
Tortorella said the same thing last year after the Blue Jackets lost Game 5 to the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena. They didn't get back to Washington for Game 7, losing Game 6 at home 6-3.
When Foligno talks about Game 6 against Boston as an opportunity to show the Blue Jackets have grown, he's also referring to what happened last season against the Capitals.
"It's disappointing [to lose Game 5], but you just move past it because you know you have a great opportunity in front of us," Foligno said. "In front of our fans, at home, we should be ready to rock."
The Blue Jackets were trying to show their growth late Saturday, in the immediate aftermath of a loss that could have left them devastated.
They finally solved Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, scoring three goals in a span of 3:25 midway through the third period. They came back from down 3-1 to tie the game 3-3, only to give up the game-winning goal with 1:28 remaining. They had a shot hit the post with 43 seconds left and one that tickled the goal line but never crossed 28 seconds later.