Bruins Learning From Past Entering Game 5 Vs. Maple Leafs

BOSTON — The Bruins are in a familiar spot with a 3-1 first-round series lead, but they know not to take anything for granted in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

After beating the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday, Boston enters Tuesday night with a chance to close out the best-of-seven series at TD Garden.

Fans might still be haunted by last season’s collapse against the Florida Panthers, but those ghosts are not felt within the Bruins locker room.

“I think that every playoff series is different, every year is different,” Jake DeBrusk said. “I think the biggest thing is, to be honest. I’ve just been focusing on the game (Tuesday). Obviously, it’s something that ended our season last year. We don’t want that to happen again. I think that we put ourselves in a good position. ‘Fourth one’s the hardest one to win.’ That’s what everyone always says, and it’s true. And we got to do our best (Tuesday) to maximize our intensity.”

Boston had a 3-1 series lead over the Panthers last season. But Paul Maurice’s side fought back and handed the B’s a shocking Game 7 loss at TD Garden in overtime. However, there’s been little murmur about how that series played out.

“No, we didn’t talk about it,” Montgomery told reporters Monday of last season’s series. “We talked about urgency, but about the group this year, about how we need to get better because there’s areas of our game that need to continue to get better if we’re hoping to have success in the series. That’s just the way it is. I think the experience of last year helps us this year. But we haven’t talked about it.”

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David Pastrnak on Monday reiterated that the Bruins are focused on staying in the moment. That’s not to say there weren’t lessons learned from last season’s elimination.

“You always learn from, from last year, from the year before, the year before — you learn from every playoff run you’ve been on,” Charlie Coyle told reporters Monday. “And that’s why having veterans on your team, guys who have been around, guys who have won, guys who have lost, it’s great to have those people who have experienced the ups and the downs and how to kind of ride that and learn from it. And I think smart hockey players usually do learn from the past, whether you win or lose. So, you always carry that with you. And you put your best foot forward and you know what to do and how we want to play. So we just focus on that.”

Florida awaits the winner of the Bruins-Maple Leafs series, and a win Tuesday would set up a long-anticipated rematch for hockey fans.

NESN’s Sean McGuire contributed to this story.