If the Bruins play free and loose Sunday night at TD Garden, their head coach will be in part to thank.
After Boston dropped a roller coaster of a tilt Friday evening at FLA Live Arena, Jim Montgomery clearly wasted no time trying to instill a certain Game 7 mindset into his players. The Bruins head coach views the first-round Stanley Cup playoff series finale as an "opportunity" for the Presidents' Trophy winners, and he wants his players to realize as much.
"Today on the plane, Monty came back and talked to us a little bit and had us envision when we were playing mini hockey or street hockey as kids. It always resulted in a Game 7 throughout those little series," defenseman Brandon Carlo told reporters Saturday, per the team. "You want to take the same approach and just be excited about it and look at it as a great opportunity and that's what we're going to do."
Should the Bruins take care of business against the Florida Panthers on home ice, they will move on to a second-round series with the rival Toronto Maple Leafs. NESN's complete coverage of the winner-take-all affair begins at 5:30 p.m. ET, with puck drop to follow at 6:30 p.m.
