In the heady aftermath of a Saturday night Game 4 win in Toronto, the Bruins were flying high.
They’d swept two road games in a loud and hostile arena, had settled on a goalie whose hot hand was torching the Maple Leafs, and had even gotten the best contribution yet from their best goal scorer. They were heading home with a chance to clinch the series, to move into the second round of these Stanley Cup playoffs at the expense of a fierce and worthy rival.
And yet, nagging worry crept in. Deja vu was the unwelcome guest, as the Bruins found themselves in precisely the same situation they were in a year ago. History dared them to exorcise their demons, to rewrite the story of their shocking 2023 first-round loss to the Panthers, when they led, 3-1, after two road wins and headed home with a chance to clinch, with a win this time around. Immediately, every Bruin focused on finishing the job.
“There’s a lot of guys in our room that have gone through it, just a little while ago,” coach Jim Montgomery said in the bowels of Scotiabank Arena. “It hurt. We’re going to see how much we’ve learned. We’ll see by our start.”
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You know the rest. Here the Bruins sit, back at home for a win-or-go-home Game 7, back after two desultory games remembered mostly for just how awful the Bruins played in the first period of each, back to face the demon that has grown exponentially larger since last Saturday night.
And here Montgomery sits, almost certainly coaching for his job.
If the Bruins lose Game 7 (again), if they blow a 3-1 lead (again), if they squander home ice (again), how does Montgomery survive? Listen, we’re not saying it’s an easy call, not after the regular-season success of his two short years at the helm, success that included last year’s record-setting Presidents’ Trophy campaign in what was his first season and Patrice Bergeron’s last. Montgomery leads a team that fills the seats, sells the tickets, and brings the eyeballs to the screens. Those numbers mean as much to ownership’s bottom line as postseason victories do.
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But would that leadership really run it back again and give Montgomery another chance? Would they willingly turn the regular season into a monthslong waiting game for the playoffs, an ongoing referendum not on the nightly standings but on the road to the postseason? Would they truly have faith that even if the Bruins were able to position themselves for another Round 1 clinching game, that the nerves, anxiety, and pressure wouldn’t, once again, get in the way? Would they look at the lineup changes Montgomery tried for Game 5 this season, the misplayed goalie juggling act from last year, and accept those decisions as wise, even if hindsight proves they backfired? Would they hear his efforts to change this year’s tone — calling out David Pastrnak after the Game 6 loss — and believe it was appropriate?
At best? Unlikely. At worst? Impossible.
It’s important to remember that this is a brain trust in team president Cam Neely and general manager Don Sweeney who’ve proved their willingness to make a tough coaching call, firing Montgomery predecessor Bruce Cassidy despite many postseason series wins, including the 2019 one that went all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Cassidy’s occasionally rough tongue had worn out its welcome with players tiring of his demanding ways, and Montgomery’s fresh approach paid immediate dividends.
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Until the playoffs.
Somehow, the Bruins went into Saturday night’s game against a heated rival they’ve dominated for decades on the wrong end of the pressure meter. Somehow, the Bruins had more to lose, despite a playoff opponent that hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967, hadn’t beaten them in the playoffs since 1959, had lost three Game 7s to them in the last 11 years alone, 2013, 2018, and 2019. The Bruins had home ice, hosted a team with its own Red Sox-like championship curse, yet bore more of the brunt of history.
As ESPN statisticians pointed out Thursday night, a Bruins loss would make them the first team in any major team sport (NBA, MLB, NHL) to blow 3-1 series leads in consecutive seasons. That would be quite an ignominious way to endorse keeping a coach.
What a reversal of fortune. When the Bruins left Toronto after Game 4, having swept those two games to head home with a chance to clinch, they departed the ice to a chorus of hometown boos, fans disgusted as they were with the way their Maple Leafs were getting pushed around the ice. The Leafs were staggered. It was their coach, Sheldon Keefe, who was being peppered with questions about his team’s and the franchise’s culture. Worse still, the team’s top scorer, Auston Matthews, had left Game 4 early with an illness, one bad enough for him to miss the next two games.
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But Keefe and Co. rallied, channeling the unique energy that comes when a team is out of options and desperate, playing with a sort of reckless yet controlled abandon that thwarted everything the Bruins tried, blocking shots, filling lanes, and generally driving the Bruins nuts. Meanwhile, the Bruins turtled, and never worse than at the start of each potential clincher, a grand total of three shots in the two first periods that speaks more to their level of anxious energy and squeezing the sticks a bit too tightly than any verbal admission could.
It fell to Montgomery to change the narrative. Players play, but coaches put them in position to play, coaches set the tone from the top, and coaches face the music in the end.
Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at tara.sullivan@globe.com. Follow her @Globe_Tara.