Boston Bruins Have Great Opportunity To Win With Home Ice Advantage

At the start of the season every team in the NHL wants to have home ice advantage once the Stanley Cup Playoffs start. The Boston Bruins has been one of the best teams all season long and earned home ice against the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup Final. With the series down to a best of three for the Stanley Cup, the Bruins would not want it any other way as defenseman Charlie McAvoy told the media on Tuesday.

“I feel very excited, it is now a best of three for the Stanley Cup, and that’s the mindset we have,” McAvoy said. “The home crowd gonna be a factor for us. Think about it is a best of three and we have home ice. That’s what you work so hard in the regular season to have this opportunity to be at home and we got to make the most of it.”

The Bruins have put in a lot of hard work this season. The grind of an 82-game regular season has brought the Bruins to within two wins of another Stanley Cup. The Bruins, like most teams, are delighted to make it this far in the Stanley Cup Final, but will not be satisfied until they are ones to lift Lord Stanley’s Cup. Just think about who would have predicted at the beginning of the season the Bruins would be in this position?

“This is an unbelievable opportunity,” McAvoy said. Just try to take it all in, take a step back and realize that it’s best of three for the Stanley Cup. Tell me at the beginning of the year I would be in this position I would be elated. We got to make the most of it.”

Center Patrice Bergeron reiterated McAvoy’s comments about the team being in a position to win the Stanley Cup after Bruins practice on Wednesday.

“If someone would have said at the start of the year we were gonna be in a best of three for a Stanley Cup with home ice I think we would have taken it,” Bergeron said. “That’s the situation we are in, and we have to look forward and just be ready for Game 5.”

The Bruins know they will have a lot of work to do when Game 5 rolls around. The Blues are such a good road team with a record of 7-3, the Bruins know they will have their hands full if the start is not right. The Bruins have to find another level  against in order to win in this series, but it will be difficult as their depth will be tested. It is unclear the status of Zdeno Chara for Game 5 as he suffered a broken jaw in Game 4 after he took at puck to the face. All indications point to defenseman Matt Grzelcyk’s return for Game 5, but he has yet to be cleared by doctors. But if neither can go it will be next man up.

Throughout the season and into the playoffs the Bruins continue to have the right mindset after a loss that will help them against in the Blues in Game 5. The Bruins know they can play a lot better and they will have to once the puck drops to start the next game.

“We realize we are in a position to be a lot better,” McAvoy said. “I think we bounce back well. We are a resilient group and I think we show up those following games and we tend to play a lot better so that is promising is for us.”

Game 5 between the Bruins and Blues is scheduled for Thursday night at 8pm ET inside TD Garden.

Read More: 

No Update From Bruins On Chara; Grzelcyk Practices; Vaakanainen Unlikely