The Bruins didn't make it easy on themselves, and because they needed to go the distance, there was little time to rest and recover before their next foe in the quest for the Stanley Cup.
But that didn't mean there would be no celebrating.
To the contrary, actually. Boston saved its season Saturday night with a dramatic overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs first-round series. David Pastrnak's game-winning goal at TD Garden secured a date with the Florida Panthers, a series the B's will open Monday night in the Sunshine State. Before making that trek, though, the Bruins had themselves quite the Saturday night celebrating themselves after dispatching the Leafs.
Luckily for Bruins fans, a lot of that jubilation was caught on film with what should be a terrific "Behind the B" episode coming up soon. The Bruins' cameras were rolling with a mic'd-up Brad Marchand all night, and the B's released a four-minute video with all of the highlights from the postgame bash. If you're a fan of the Black and Gold, it's must-watch stuff.
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There's so much to sink your teeth into from that video, starting with Marchand in the handshake line. We're given a front-row seat to his message for fierce series adversaries like Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi, the latter for whom Marchand expresses the utmost respect. We also get Jake McCabe telling Marchand to go beat Florida, something neither the Bruins nor the Leafs could do in respective series last spring.
From there, the locker room celebration is what you'd expect, and the cameos from Bruins legends like Patrice Bergeron and Tuukka Rask bring it all together.
The party was an abbreviated one, though. The Bruins flew to Florida on Sunday and they'll open Game 1 on Monday night at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, but make sure you get your night started with a full hour of pregame coverage on NESN beginning at 7 p.m.
Featured image via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images