Tuesday night’s Boston Bruins-Toronto Maple Leafs contest marks the fifth Game 7 in history between the Original Six rivals.
Like the four previous Game 7s, the 2019 series finale will be played in Boston.
All four so far have featured third-period comebacks.
Here’s a look at the Game 7 history between the sides:
APRIL 3, 1941 — Boston Garden
Bruins 2, Maple Leafs 1 (first round)
The scorers: Toronto — Gordie Drillon; Boston — Bobby Bauer, Herb Cain
The goaltenders (no save stats available): Toronto — Turk Broda; Boston — Frank Brimsek
The story: The Leafs break a scoreless draw in the third to open the scoring, but the Bruins claw back with two goals less than two minutes apart to win it. Boston went on to win the Stanley Cup final against the Detroit Red Wings.
APRIL 7, 1959 — Boston Garden
Maple Leafs 3, Bruins 2 (first round)
The scorers: Toronto — Larry Regan, Bob Pulford, Gerry Ehman; Boston — Vic Stasiuk, Leo Boivin
The goaltenders: Toronto — Johnny Bower (21 saves); Boston — Harry Lumley (23 saves)
The story: The Leafs fight back from a 2-1 hole in the third period on goals by Pulford and Ehman to complete the upset. Ehman’s goal came with less than three minutes left. Toronto clinched a playoff spot on the final day of the season. Boston missed the playoffs the next eight seasons. The Leafs went on to lose the Stanley Cup final against the Montreal Canadiens.
MAY 13, 2013 — TD Garden
Bruins 5, Maple Leafs 4 (first round)
The scorers: Toronto — Cody Franson (two goals), Phil Kessel, Nazem Kadri; Boston — Matt Bartkowski, Nathan Horton, Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron (two goals)
The goaltenders: Toronto — James Reimer (30 saves); Boston — Tuukka Rask (24 saves)
The story: Boston rallies from a 4-1 deficit with three goals in less than 10 minutes in the third period. Two come in the final two minutes with Bergeron tying it with just 51 seconds left. Bergeron struck again at 6:05 of overtime. The Bruins went on to lose the Stanley Cup final against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The quote: “There’s no way to describe it. Just an empty feeling really. It’s over and there’s nothing you can do about it.” — Reimer
Related: Maple Leafs vs. Bruins: Rivalry Renewed
APRIL 25, 2018 — TD Garden
Bruins 7, Maple Leafs 4 (first round)
The scorers: Toronto — Patrick Marleau (two goals), Travis Dermott, Kasperi Kapanen; Boston — Jake Debrusk (two goals), Danton Heinen, Patrice Bergeron, Torey Krug, David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand
The goaltenders: Toronto — Frederik Anderson (29 saves); Boston — Tuukka Rask (20 saves)
The story: Boston again posts a come-from-behind victory, this time scoring four goals in the third period while holding the Leafs off the board. Leafs defenceman Jake Gardiner was a minus-5 on the night.
The quote: “Not the way we saw it going. Personally I’ve got to be better. A lot of this game is on me. And it’s just not good enough, especially in a game like this. It’s the most important game of the season, and I didn’t show up. There’s not much I can say, really.” — Gardiner
The Canadian Press