The Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers will play Game 7 at TD Garden on Sunday, the victor moving into the Eastern Conference Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
It wasn't a scenario that many predicted at the start of the series between the Presidents' Trophy-winning Bruins and the just-squeaked-into-the-playoffs Panthers, but Florida won Games 5 and 6 to set up Game 7 in Boston.
None of that matters anymore, the momentum, the supposed-tos. Now it's just the one game.
"Whoever wins it, moves on," Panthers forward Eric Staal said. "However we were going before, at the end of the day it doesn't matter."
The Bruins led 3-1 after Game 4 and had a chance to clinch the best-of-7 series at home Wednesday, but lost 4-3 and 7-5 in a crazy, back-and-forth Game 6 on Friday. Their plan is to keep it simple by being the team they've been all season and turning to the veterans who have been here again and again.
Patrice Bergeron, Boston's captain who could be playing his final NHL game, will tie the NHL record of 14 Game 7s played with former Bruins captain Zdeno Chara. David Krejci will play his 12th Game 7 and potential final NHL game. Brad Marchand will skate in his 11th.
RELATED: [Complete Bruins vs. Panthers series coverage]
"The biggest thing is we feel we're prepared," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said, "and the best predictor of the future is your past and our past is really good."
The Panthers are 1-1 in Game 7s and the Bruins 15-14 (.517), 14-9 (.609) in Boston. Home teams are 111-79 (.584) in 190 Game 7s (4-2 in 2022). The team that scores first is 143-47 (.753), including 5-1 in 2022.
Here are 3 keys for Game 7:
