With the Sabres facing elimination for a second straight game, Monday night again presents a "do-or-die" game for Buffalo. But after coming out flat in the first two periods in Game 5, the Bruins plan to treat Game 6 the same way.
"I think we have to take that same attitude of 'do-or-die' like the [Sabres] have, even though we're not facing elimination, because we don't want to have to go back there for a Game 7," Michael Ryder said. "It would be nice to come out and set the tone early by getting the lead. It's do-or-die for us too because anything can happen in a Game 7."
Ryder couldn't understand why the Bruins couldn't muster more intensity from the start of Game 5 and said he and his teammates plan to approach their second chance at clinching with a much better start.
"We didn't battle hard for the first two periods [on Friday] and we need to come out much better in the first," he said. "We didn't get that 3-1 lead in the series for nothing, and we need to come out hard, be physical and let them know we're here."
Having been on the other side of a 3-1 series deficit (twice with Montreal in 2004 and 2008 and once with Boston last season), Ryder has a good idea of what the Sabres are saying to each other and how they're looking at tonight's big tilt at the TD Garden.
"For sure, they're saying to each other, 'If we win and take it to Game 7, anything can happen.' We don't want to give them that opportunity," Ryder said. "They're battling for their lives over there and we need to do that too. This needs to be our Game 7."
Head coach Claude Julien wanted that attitude from his team on Friday, and he's hoping they bring it on the ice Monday.
"You hope you had that attitude last game, too," Julien said of ending Buffalo's year. "When you want to finish a series and you want to be the winning team, you've got to have that attitude. You let teams get back in it, it just gives them more hope. Tonight, we need to play like we want to end it tonight."
