fb-pixelStanley Cup Today: How the Bruins have fared when facing elimination in a Game 6 - The Boston Globe Skip to main content

Stanley Cup Today: How the Bruins have fared when facing elimination in a Game 6

The Bruins play the Blues in Game 6 on Sunday.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff/Globe Staff

The Bruins have faced elimination on the road in a Game 6 already this postseason and will do so again on Sunday against St. Louis.

In the first round, the Bruins were pushed to the brink against a talented Toronto team at Scotiabank Arena. The Bruins defeated the Maple Leafs before winning Game 7 back at home.

The Bruins have been in a Game 6 elimination situation 24 times in franchise history and are 11-13 overall and 7-5 when those games were played on the road. Sunday will be the sixth time the Bruins have been behind, 3-2, in the Stanley Cup Final.

Advertisement



The Bruins appeared to have forced a Game 7 in 2013, but the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Blackhawks stunned the Bruins at TD Garden with two late goals in 36 seconds to capture the Stanley Cup in a lockout-shortened.

Boston faced a similar situation in 2011 against Vancouver, and stayed alive because of a four-goal first period that highlighted a 5-2 victory. That was Boston’s last Stanley Cup title and only Game 6 win while trailing in the final.

The Bruins have had home ice for four of their five Game 6s in which they trailed during the Stanley Cup Final. Boston’s only previous Game 6 facing elimination on the road came in 1974, when the Bruins fell, 1-0, to the Philadelphia Flyers. It was the first time an expansion team claimed a Cup.

Most of the Bruins’ success in this scenario has been recent. They are 4-2 since 2008 with three victories coming on the road.

The most dramatic was a 2012 first-round victory at the Washington Capitals. Tyler Seguin’s first goal of the series came three minutes into overtime to help the reigning champions keep their title-defense alive.

Boston also needed overtime to beat the Quebec Nordiques in the 1982 Division Finals, taking a 6-5 overtime win to force a Game 7 at home that they would later lose, 2-1. In the five occasions overtime was required, the Bruins have gone 2-3 with both victories on the road and all three losses at home.

Advertisement



Saturday’s schedule

■ 12:30 p.m. EST: Blues team skate followed by media availability with coach Craig Berube and players (Enterprise Center)

■ 2:30 p.m. EST : Bruins team skate followed by media availability with coach Bruce Cassidy and players (Enterprise Center)

Coverage plan

■  Matt Porter will cover all the key storylines heading into Game 6

■  Tara Sullivan writes about the influence Blues coach Craig Berube has had on the officiating

■  Chris Gasper will write a column after checking out the Bruins’ Saturday practice

■  Nicole Yang will have news and notes from the Bruins’ practice and media session

Latest Stanley Cup content

■ The officiating in the Stanley Cup playoffs is officially a mess, writes Matt Porter

■ Andrew Mahoney gives some background on Kelly Sutherland, the official who missed the call on Tyler Bozak’s trip of Noel Acciari in Game 5.


Dan Shulman can be reached at dan.shulman@globe.com; follow him on Twitter @DanielRShulman.