The atmosphere was electric Tuesday night at TD Garden as the Boston Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series.
It’s sometimes easy to downplay home-ice advantage in the NHL, especially with the road team winning four of the series’ first six games, but Boston’s 5-1 victory marked the third time in seven years the Bruins eliminated the Maple Leafs in a Game 7 at TD Garden.
“You knew going in it was a pick’em series and you wondered whether home ice would play out to the advantage and early on it wasn’t,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said after Boston’s win, according to The Athletic. “But tonight it was. The crowd was a factor.”
The Bruins’ success against the Maple Leafs in series-deciding games in Boston is notable, if only because it suggests home-ice advantage actually can make a difference. There have been several upsets across the NHL this postseason, but Boston winning Game 7 in its own building highlights the potential importance of the regular season.
The Bruins owned home-ice advantage in the first round by virtue of finishing in second place in the Atlantic Division with 107 points, behind only the Tampa Bay Lightning (128 points) and ahead of the third-place Maple Leafs (100 points).
“I loved the atmosphere in the building right from the get-go,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Game 7. Every night here. Same in Toronto, I gotta say. A couple of loud buildings, Original Six franchises, hungry, great fan support.”
The Maple Leafs haven’t won a playoff series since 2004, and they haven’t won a Game 7 on the road since 1993. If Toronto wants to get over the hump — which right now seems to be Boston — in the coming years, it might need to lock up home-ice advantage in the regular season.
The Bruins, meanwhile, advance to the second round for a series against the Columbus Blue Jackets knowing they own home-ice advantage for as long as they stay alive in the playoffs — emphasis on the word “advantage” when it comes to talking about the TD Garden crowd.
