Bruins Can Repeat Exact Playoff Cycle Vs. Maple Leafs In Game 7

History repeats itself all the time. The Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs are seeing that in real-time.

Toronto won a decisive Game 6 over the Bruins on Thursday night. That sends the first-round playoff series to Game 7. It's the fourth first-round Game 7 that Boston and Toronto will play since 2013. All three previous matchups came at TD Garden and led to Bruins wins.

The teams return to Boston on Saturday to add another installment to a storied rivalry, particularly over a decade.

If the Bruins are indeed able to hold off the Maple Leafs in another winner-take-all affair, they'll repeat the exact path of the results that were seen in the 2013 series and 2018 series, as referenced on X by PuckReportNHL.

In both seasons, Boston won Game 1, Game 3, Game 4 and Game 7 with Toronto winning Game 2, Game 5 and Game 6. The Bruins had a home-ice advantage in all three previous series and, once again, have the advantage on Saturday.

The 2024 series holds more relations to 2013 given that the Maple Leafs won a pair of 2-1 contests in Game 5 and Game 6 in both playoff runs.

A number of trends benefited the Bruins in the trio of classics that precede the current edition that will surely be headlines entering the weekend.

Boston and Toronto fight for a spot in the second round against the Florida Panthers. The game will air on ABC.