Boston Bruins confident in ability to rally in Stanley Cup Playoffs
CHICAGO -- The Boston Bruins aren't strangers to playing from behind in these playoffs. Most recently, in Game 4, the Chicago Blackhawks had leads of 1-0, 2-1, 3-1, 3-2, 4-2, and 5-4, unable to put the Bruins away for good in regulation, and needing a Brent Seabrook goal in overtime to finally put an end to their opponents' hopes.
When you're the Bruins and you pull off one of the most memorable third period comebacks in NHL history against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 of the first round, it goes a long way to explaining why you're two wins away from a Stanley Cup.
It's also an example of when the extra push needed while facing deficit pays off, which isn't always the case.
"I think everybody was realistic after the [Toronto] one," said Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference. "You know it can happen. But sometimes you put in an effort and you come up short as well. It's not like you can feel like you're indestructible. The gameplan and the way guys play it's the same whether you're up 3-0 or down 3-0 and that's the approach more that you have to take."
During the regular season, the Bruins were 2-7-3 when trailing after the first period, 3-7-2 when after two. In the postseason, Boston is a perfect 3-0 when down after the opening 20 minutes and 2-3 when falling behind after 40 minutes. It doesn't always work, like Ference said, but watching your playoff dreams go from dead to revived within 11 minutes goes a long way to instilling confidence in similar situations going forward.
"There's always that belief that no matter what the situation is, we can get ourselves back in it," said Milan Lucic. "Once we get frustrated and once we lose our cool, that's when things don't go smoothly for us."
Now the Stanley Cup Final is a best-of-3. There is little room for error at this point in the series. Game 4 saw 11 goals after a combined 12 through the opening three games. That's something neither team wants to have happen again.
If it does, and the Bruins once again find themselves trailing, they'll be prepared.
"I think we've been a fairly calm team the whole way through," said Bruins head coach Claude Julien.
"It's a combination of a lot of things, but panic isn't something that our team does."
Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy
