A higher seed dropping the first two games at home against an upstart Montreal squad? Yep, Recchi's been here before, and he's hoping history repeats itself.
The veteran forward joined Carolina at the trade deadline in 2006 in a deal with Pittsburgh, and he watched as his new club lost the first two games of its opening-round series against seventh-seeded Montreal that spring.
But the Hurricanes clawed back into the series with an overtime win at the Bell Centre in Game 3 and went on to win the next three games as well to take the series 4-2. That was just the start for the Hurricanes, who went on to beat New Jersey, Buffalo and Edmonton to claim the Cup that June.
Now Recchi finds himself in a very similar situation, with the third-seeded Bruins losing their first two games at home before showing some signs of life with a Game 3 victory in Montreal on Monday.
"It was just that the guys believed in each other," Recchi said of Carolina's comeback. "I joined the team with 20 games left and saw how much the guys believed in what they were doing and they stayed with it. They stayed with what they were doing and they believed in it. Cam Ward came in, that was his first game in Game 3 and he kind of ran with it after that.
"There were some differences, but at the same time you see a lot of the same things," Recchi added of the comparison to this year's start to the postseason for the Bruins. "We believe in what we did all year and there's a reasons why we were successful. If you get away from it, you're not going to have any success. We got away from it and we got back to it for the most part the other night [in Game 3], and we're going to have to be even better than that."
Recchi stressed that more than any tactical adjustments, it is that commitment to the system in place and to each other that is the key to turning this series around.
"It's all about believing," Recchi said. "Believing in what we've done all year and believing in each other. Trusting what we've done all year and trusting each other. That's what it comes down to. If we didn't trust each other we wouldn't have won Game 3. We believe in each other, and now we have to believe in each other more than ever tomorrow."
With 22 seasons of NHL experience on his hall-of-fame resume, Recchi has been a fountain of wisdom for the younger players on the Bruins roster, and they've happily soaked in all the advice he can dispense.
"They're responsive to what everybody says," Recchi said. "The guys have been great all year about that, whether it's me, or Zee [Zdeno Chara] or coach or anybody. They're very responsive. We have a great group of guys here who care about each other, and now we have to show it. There's no better step than tomorrow to try to get home ice back and then go home and see what we can do from there."
