The Bruins have the opportunity to close out their Stanley Cup playoff first-round matchup with the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night at TD Garden.
But closing out a series is no small feat, and Boston knows just how hard it is to capture win No. 4.
“It’s a big game, and it’s nice to be back here at home. Just really excited to get the crowd into it,” Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk told reporters on Wednesday following the team’s morning skate, per team-provided video. “It’s one of those things that obviously we expect them to bring their best, so we gotta be ready. It’s always the hardest game. The hardest ones to win is the fourth, and they’re playing for their lives.”
DeBrusk has potted three goals and two assists in the four games against Florida so far and knows the Bruins will need to continue to play to Boston’s standard of hockey in order to win Game 5.
“It’s about us playing our game and continuing to build,” DeBrusk said. “We need to do whatever we can to obviously get the end result. You know, it’s one of those things where you want to get it done as fast as possible and not give them any life.”
The Bruins are not strangers to working toward a goal. They did it all season long when they captured NHL and franchise records.
“It’s something that it’s easy when you clinch with so much time. It’s easy to just kind of mail it in,” DeBrusk said. “But obviously, we want to get to do certain things when they’re achievable, and we’re able to do that, so I think it’s good preparation, but you never know until the beast is out there. And it’s one of those things where we put ourselves in a spot we want to be in, but the series is far from over.”
If the Bruins close out their series tonight, they will await the winner of the Toronto Maple Leafs-Tampa Bay Lightning series. Leading their series 3-1, the Maple Leafs will look to close things out Thursday when they host the Lightning at Scotiabank Arena.
