The Boston Bruins now are just three wins away from advancing to the Stanley Cup Final after topping the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final on Thursday night.
And it should not surprise anyone that the team that wins Game 1 more often than not goes on to win the series, giving the Bruins a pretty significant historical advantage as the series rolls on.
According to NHL.com:
Teams that win Game 1 of the best-of-7 conference finals in the format adopted in 1982 have an all-time series record of 46-26 (63.9 percent). This is the fifth time the Bruins have won the opener in the conference finals; they’ve won the series on three of the first four occasions (1988, 1990, 2013), losing in 1991 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It’s also worth noting that Boston lost Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final in 2011, falling to the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 at TD Garden, then came back to win the series, and ultimately the Stanley Cup.
So clearly, Game 1 is not the end-all, be-all when it comes to the series, and the Hurricanes presented a more daunting task than some perhaps expected them to. But the Bruins maintain their home-ice advantage thanks to their Game 1 win, and have displayed throughout the playoffs that they are capable of battling back should they end up falling behind in the series.
Boston has a chance to double their advantage Sunday afternoon when they take the ice for Game 2 at 3 p.m. ET.
