By Canadian Press

Bruins not fretting over having to go seven games with Maple Leafs

Apr 23, 2018 | 11:38 PM

TORONTO — Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy isn’t sweating a Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, even if the pressure to not blow a 3-1 series lead lingers.

He’s confident because his best players have been there before.

“It’s Game 7, Bruins won the Cup in 2011 and went through it three times,” said Cassidy after his team dropped Game 6 at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre 3-1 on Monday.

“Our guys have certainly lived it. so I would hope it wouldn’t affect them anymore than they just want to keep playing hockey and bring their A-game.”

Boston was ahead 3-1 against Toronto before dropping back-to-back games, including Game 5 at TD Garden. The Bruins have gone from being in the driver’s seat to potentially having their season end on Wednesday. They’re 18-2 all time when winning three of the first four games in a series.

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“That’s the way it is, it’s all about one game,” said Bruins captain Zdeno Chara. “One game and you have to be ready.”

Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen was Toronto’s backbone again in Game 6, stopping 32 shots for the win after turning away 42 shots in Game 5’s victory.

Tuukka Rask kicked out 27 shots for Boston but gave up two goals in the second period that proved to be the difference.

William Nylander beat him at 1:37 to tie the game 35 seconds after Jake Debrusk opened the scoring for Boston. Then, Mitch Marner scored the eventual winner from in the slot at 13:25 on a spin-around play.

“You can’t read the backhand shot, it was a good shot right over the pad,” Rask said about Marner’s goal.

Tomas Plekanec added an empty-net goal late in the third.

The team that had scored the first goal had won each of the first five games of the series before Monday. 

It hasn’t been an easy road for Boston since its 2011 Stanley Cup run with some roster turnover geared towards the future. But the core from the 2011 championship team is very much in tact, with Brad Marchand, David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron, Adam McQuaid, Chara and Rask logging serious minutes this year against Toronto.

“We’re gonna rely on all the players and hopefully the ones that have been there are better prepared for it,” said Cassidy. 

The Bruins missed the playoffs in 2015 and 2016 and only squeaked in last season after firing coach Claude Julien in January and hiring Cassidy, who went 18-8-1 down the stretch to sneak into the post-season. Boston was ousted in six games by the Ottawa Senators. 

This year, with a much younger roster than in years past, the Bruins only finished one point from top spot in the Eastern Conference standings, surprising even themselves.

“I think if anybody would have told us at the start of the year we’d be in Game 7, first round at home, we’d take it,” said Marchand, who was held off the scoresheet in Game 6. “Tough given the position we were in.”

Cassidy believes his team had played well enough to win at least one of the three games they dropped and doesn’t plan to change anything for Game 7. He said it’s time for his group to execute on the chances they’re creating.

“We need to score is what we have to do different,” said Cassidy. 

Kyle Cicerella, The Canadian Press