TORONTO — When the thermostat gets dialed to scorching and the building rumbles like 20 ghosts throwing a rager in your consciousness, and the other side is so close you can see it, one of these teams knows how to keep calm and carry on.
The other, until proven otherwise, is the Toronto Maple Leafs, whose players are so young and whose problems are so old.
How you know this is Brad Marchand’s bare feet and the way he strolls into Toronto’s post-game press conference room, steps to the podium and fields questions about his three-point, elimination-delaying evening in a T-shirt, team shorts and a backwards snapback like he owns the place.
No socks, no shoes, at your service.
Marchand’s two-goal, one-assist Easter Sunday performance raised his facing-elimination totals to six goals and 11 points. They might not all go so far as to deliver such a sartorial face-lick as Marchy, but big-time players show up for big-time games.
To steal a Babcockism, they’re comfortable being uncomfortable.
So just as Auston Matthews elevated his team on enemy ice in Game 5, so too did Marchand and Patrice Bergeron in a tension-wrought Game 6, securing a full-value 4-2 victory and home-ice advantage in Tuesday’s best-of-one.
When defenceman Torey Krug was asked post-win if recent history gives the Bruins a psychological edge in Game 7, he passed the hot potato.
“It’s a question you’ll have to go ask over there in their locker room,” Krug said.
The Bruins bulled into the city of Toronto’s mental china shop as loudly as they left.
David Pastrnak confidently said “we will” bring The Series Where Momentum Died back to TD Garden, and Marchand broke an expensive stick on a Scotiabank Arena wall in his throes of pre-game energy.
As they filed off the ice, silencing the loudest non-Raptors sports crowd we’ve ever heard assemble here, one by one, the Bruins yelled joyously to no one and everyone as they tossed off their gloves and unsnapped their helmets in the bowels of the rink:
“Yeah!”
Louder.
“Yeah!”
With more authority.
“Yeah!”
Contagious.
Stud defenceman Torey Krug (one goal, nine shots) and chief Leafs irritant Jake DeBrusk (beauty game-winner, knocked Morgan Rielly’s helmet off) weren’t too shabby either, and the Bruins’ defence core as a whole registered 18 shots on net.
“To me it’s the best game we’ve played,” coach Bruce Cassidy praised. “More, overall, of our identity.
“We’ve got as close to [our ceiling] as I’ve seen in a long time.”
So even as the Leafs jumped out with a furious first 10 minutes, John Tavares tipping a post and Rielly slamming an opening goal that felt like a shower, no panic rippled the Bruins bench.
“No sense getting in our heads and playing a poor-me getting down 1-0 early. We knew we had to respond. It’s our season on the line,” said defenceman Charlie McAvoy, still ramped up post-game. “Our older players lead the way, and we all follow.”
A dominant Bergeron went a ridiculous 17-6 in the faceoff dot, eating Leafs penalty killers Zach Hyman and Mitch Marner, both wingers, alive (2-8) and ensuring all the scary stuff happened in Frederik Andersen’s end.
“Quick, decisive plays,” Krug said. “One or two passes — a shot.”
That quicksilver power play went a perfect two-for-two Sunday, just as it went a perfect three-for-three in winning Game 4 in this building and is now clipping along at a gaudy 43.8 per cent.
Buzzing.
“It’s time for us to stop having the breakdowns,” Connor Brown said. “I don’t know if we were too pumped up, but they came in fighting for their lives, and their power-play goals deflated us a little bit.”
There will be a meeting about it Monday, ahead of Toronto’s own elimination game. Same place, same time.
“Things happen fast,” Rielly said. “It’s important we meet tomorrow and we talk about what happened tonight and try to fix it.”
What the Bruins have in spades — men in their room with rings and the kind of hard miles that age hockey players well — the Leafs have tried to import. Patrick Marleau. Ron Hainsey. Jake Muzzin. John Tavares.
So, this is what Cassidy did. The coach met with his players on the off-day and talked about playing with footspeed and urgency, about using their nasty forecheck to force Toronto into poor passes, about how he wanted his D to activate and not give too much respect to the Leafs’ killer stretch pass.
Then Cassidy stepped aside on do-or-die day and let Bergeron, Marchand, Tuukka Rask and Zdeno Chara run the same room they’ve been steering for a decade.
“We get the vocal leadership from our guys, but we were focused coming into today. We know what’s at stake,” McAvoy said. “There wasn’t a lot that needed to be said. We all knew we needed to play for each other, and we needed to bring it.”
For those who shelled out $2,000 for a last-minute scalper ticket, those who rammed Maple Leaf Square past capacity, and those who ate Easter dinner at the altar of the TV set, it sure would’ve been nice for Toronto to bring it Sunday.
But they didn’t need to bring it. On Tuesday, everyone does.
“We’ve got a good group that enjoys being together and plans on having a good run,” Babcock said. “In order to do that, we’ve got to go into Boston and win a game.”
Sounds simple. Sounds impossible.
“Game 7. TD Garden. Boston-Toronto,” Cassidy said, clapping his hands together twice and rubbing them together.
“Let’s put on our surprise face.”
[relatedlinks]