Brad Marchand hoped the Boston Bruins avoided this situation, but it's inevitable now.
The Bruins are on the brink of elimination from the Stanley Cup Playoffs after the Carolina Hurricanes took Game 5 Tuesday night with a convincing 5-1 victory. Carolina now holds a 3-2 edge in the best-of-seven series.
Following the contest, Marchand explained the team's mindset heading into Thursday's Game 6 with Boston's season on the line.
"Obviously a do-or-die situation. It's not the one we want to be in, but all that matters is that we regroup and get prepared for the next one," Marchand said as seen on NESN postgame coverage. "We know they're going to push. They're a good team. You can see they're very hungry right now. But we just have to give everything we have the next one and hope there's a tomorrow."
With so much at stake in the next game, Marchand said there's really no point on dwelling on what went wrong for the Bruins in Game 5.
"Whether you win or lose, you have to have the same recipe, you just got to let it go," Marchand said. "We can look back and dissect the game and wish we would have scored here and there early on to tie it up, but we didn't. Didn't win and it doesn't matter. It's all about the next one now."
For Game 6, the Bruins are back on home ice, where they have outscored the Hurricanes, 10-3. That could spark some confidence in the B's as they look to stave off elimination and force a decisive Game 7.
"We're back home," star defenseman Charlie McAvoy said as seen on NESN postgame coverage. "We know what's at stake now. Our backs are against the wall, so we need to rally and make sure we put our best foot forward."
The Bruins and Hurricanes will take the ice for Game 6 at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday at TD Garden. You can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
