Chris Kelly is focused and ready for Game 7 Monday night. (Mike Petraglia/WEEI.com)

Leave it to Shawn Thornton to lighten the mood heading into a winner-take-all Game 7 against the Leafs at TD Garden. Asked what was the biggest advantage to flying back to Boston on the morning of Game 7 instead of flying back right after the Game 6 loss, Thornton had an immediate response.

“I didn’t have my dogs kicking me in the back in the middle of the night,” Thornton said. “I probably got more sleep last night staying over than I would have coming in. I think we got some more rest. We didn’t fly out at an atrocious time this morning. Everyone got their sleep, got in, had a good meal. I don’t know. I feel pretty good.”

The Bruins flew back to Boston mid-morning, after being grounded in Toronto Sunday night due to a “malfunction” with their charter plane. Thornton said the key for the Bruins in Game 7 will be attitude.

“Try not to get too high before the game and try to keep it fairly even keel,” he said. “If you get too ramped up, everyone can start looking like they have my hands, bobbling pucks. We have a lot of experience but they’re going to be pretty fired up over there, too. You have to try and keep it even keel but we have to be ready for them.”

Thornton also said the mood in the dressing room is not one of nervousness.

“Not uneasiness,” Thornton said. “Obviously, we didn’t want to be here but we are so you turn the page and get ready for tonight and embrace it. Game 7s are pretty fun for everyone so just have fun with it.”

“This is a great opportunity,” added Chris Kelly. “Play in Game 7 at home. We’ve worked hard all year to put ourselves in this situation. Obviously, it’s not the ideal situation but I don’t think it is for them, too. I’m sure they wouldn’t have wanted to play a Game 7 at the start of the series. But we are where we are and I’m excited.”

Kelly has been centering the third line with Jaromir Jagr and Rich Peverley. Kelly is confident that face-off wins can finally result in goals in Game 7.

“I think we’ve done a good job in the face-off circle, not ony the center men but a five-man unit getting in there and helping out,” Kelly said. “It’d be nice to manage the puck a little bit better than we have, putting it in better situations than where we can retrieve it after those face-off wins.”

Tony Amonte

Tony Amonte, who provides Bruins analysis for CSNNE, checked in with Mut & Merloni on Monday to talk about the B’s first-round series against the Maple Leafs.

Following their 2-1 loss in Game 6 Sunday night in Toronto, the inconsistent B’s face a Game 7 Monday night at TD Garden. Amonte said the Bruins’ failure to rise to the occasion the last two games is a very bad sign.

“You can’t survive that way. You can’t win a Stanley Cup. And that’s the way it’s been the last couple of months for this team,” Amonte said. “You just don’t know what you’re going to get on a nighty basis. If you’re going to play that way, especially in the playoffs, you’re not going to go very far.

“Could it be that they’re going to be out tonight? Yeah. If their B club shows up, the minor league team shows up, they’re in trouble, they’re going to lose this game tonight.”

The Bruins had an impressive overtime win in Game 4 to take a 3-1 series lead, but they haven’t been able to close it out after starting slow in the last two games.

“I was surprised,” Amonte said. “Coming off of Game 4, that was probably one of the best games of the playoffs as far as this year out of both teams. The Bruins showed a high-powered offense in that game, pretty strong defensively, Tuukka [Rask] was on his game. So, it seemed like, yeah, they put a dagger in the hearts of the Toronto Maple Leafs. But then to come out in Game 5 in the first period, and Toronto dominated. They turned the switch off and they didn’t play the way they needed to. By the time they got into the game, it was too late again, just like it was last night.

“It’s all about getting out there early, establishing some confidence. For these guys, now it’s in their heads. They’ve got to go out and score goals.”

Looking back at the closing minutes of Friday’s Game 5, Tyler Seguin was getting ice time over David Krejci on the power play despite failing to record a point in the series.

“You’ve got a guy out there basically quarterbacking the power play in Tyler Seguin who has no points and no assists,” Amonte said. “You’ve got a guy that’s got 10 points at that point in time, 10 points in the playoffs, leading the playoffs in scoring, sitting on the bench. From a fan’s perspective, it’s crazy. You have to play the odds. And the odds say Krejci’s going to score a point way before Seguin is ever going to do it.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Will Patrice Bergeron and the Bruins be able to celebrate after Monday's win? (AP)

The Bruins, on Monday night, will be playing their 24th lifetime Game 7, and this is the 19th of those games played on their home ice.

Here, thanks to the Bruins media relations department, are some other nuggets to consider.

This is the 13th time that the Bruins have been taken to a Game 7 after leading in a series by a 3-2 margin. This is their sixth Game 7 in their last seven series played and is the ninth in their last 12 series.

They are 12-11 overall in Game 7s and are 11-7 on home ice. They are 3-3 lifetime in Game 7s decided in overtime. They became the first team in NHL history to win three Game 7s in one playoff year in 2011.

They have shut out their opponent in two of their last three Game 7s. This is their third lifetime Game 7 vs. Toronto, with each team winning one of the previous two.

As for the Maple Leafs, they are playing the 22nd lifetime Game 7 in their franchise history and this is the 14th of these games they will play on the road. This is the 11th time that they have forced a Game 7 after trailing in a series by a 3-2 margin. This is their sixth Game 7 in their last eight series played. They are 12-9 overall in Game 7 and are 5-8 on the road. They are 2-1 lifetime in Game 7s decided in overtime. This is their third lifetime Game 7 vs. the Bruins, with each team winning one of the previous two.

Patrice Bergeron

TORONTO — Here comes Game 7.

With all the things that can be said about this Bruins team after blowing a 3-1 lead — that this is typical of a team that lost nine games that it led in the third period in the regular season, that the B’s are pulling a 2010, etc. — the Bruins are trying to think about none of them. If they’re going to be embarrassed that they let the Leafs come back in this series, they can do it later. First they have a game to win.

“Being frustrated right now is not going to help,” Patrice Bergeron said after the Maple Leafs’ 2-1 win in Game 6. “It’s about being determined, finding ways to put it in. It’s all about [Game 7] now.”

The Maple Leafs have momentum, and while both teams have goalies who have played exceptional, the Bruins have made more mistakes and the Maple Leafs have made them pay. Claude Julien summed it up pretty well in his five-question postgame press conference Sunday.

“We are the team that should have prevailed in this series in everybody’s eyes, but they’ve played well and we haven’t played well enough,” he said. “It’s as simple as that, and that’s why it’s a 3-3 series right now.”

The Bruins put on their best “We’re not frustrated” faces after Game 6, but they should be frustrated. This should have been a five-game series, but the B’s came out flat and lost Game 5 and then had to play without Andrew Ference in a Game 6 that they shouldn’t have had to play. Now, they have one game to save their season.

“We’ve always said they were a good team. We never said it was going to be an easy series, so here we are now,” Bergeron said. “It’s all about one game, and whatever happened in the first six games doesn’t really matter. It’s about us showing up.”

Milan Lucic

Here are some key nuggets from the 2-1 Game 6 loss to the Maple Leafs from the Bruins media relations department.

• The Bruins now have a 10-14 lifetime record in Game 6s of best-of-seven series in which they entered with a 3-2 series lead.

• The Maple Leafs now have a 10-10 lifetime record in Game 6s of best-of-seven series in which they entered trailing the series
2-3.

WHO’S HOT

• Milan Lucic had a goal Sunday, giving him 1-6-7 totals in four of the six games of this series.

• Zdeno Chara had an assist, giving him 1-6-7 totals in four of his last five games.

• Jaromir Jagr had an assist, giving him single assists each in three of his last four games.

• Toronto’s James van Riemsdyk had two assists, giving him 2-3-5 totals in four of the six games of this series.

• Toronto’s Phil Kessel had a goal, giving him 3-1-4 totals in four of his last five games.

• Toronto’s Cody Franson had an assist, giving him 1-3-4 totals in four of the six games of this series.

FUN FACTS

• These teams played penalty-free second and third periods. They were the first periods of this series in which neither team was assessed an infraction. The third period of Game 3 did not feature a power-play opportunity for either team but the clubs were assessed coincidental minors in that stanza.

• Dion Phaneuf’s goal at 1:48 of the third period was the seventh of this series scored in the first two minutes of a period, with Toronto netting five and Boston two.

• The Bruins outshot the Maple Leafs by a 30-26 margin. It was the first game of this series in which neither team had a 40-or- more shot game.

MILESTONES REACHED

• Toronto’s Joe Colborne played his first NHL playoff game.

FIRST GOAL OF GAME

• The Maple Leafs scored the first goal of the game when Phaneuf scored at 1:48 of the third period.

• The Bruins now are 2-2 this postseason when allowing the first goal of the game. They finished the regular season with a 9-10-3 mark this season when allowing the first goal of the game.

• The Maple Leafs now are 2-2 this postseason when scoring the first goal of the game. They finished the regular season with a 19-9-4 record this season when scoring the first goal of the game. Read the rest of this entry »

A frustrated Claude Julien has one more chance to close out the Leafs. (AP)

Bruins coach Claude Julien said he didn’t want to say he was frustrated after a 2-1 loss to the Maple Leafs that forced a Game 7 Monday night at TD Garden.

But after watching how his team handled or more accurately – in his eyes – mishandled the puck Sunday night, he’d seen enough.

“Before the game we talked about it, and after the first period, I didn’t think our puck management was very good,” Julien said. “That means being strong on the puck and making the right plays, shooting versus over-passing. I didn’t think it was very good.”

Asked about the inconsistent play of his team, he didn’t mince words.

“As I said to our players after the game, we’ve been a Jekyll and Hyde hockey club all year, and that’s what you’re seeing right now,” Julien said. “I think it’s important for us to bring the good Bruins team to the table for Game 7.”

Julien was asked about his team’s inability to put away teams when they have the chance.

“No doubt, I’d like to have it any other way but at this stage of the year, frustration on my part isn’t going to help my club turn it over,” Julien said.

What Julien wouldn’t do is throw one particular player or line under the bus.

“I have no comments on my lines,” Julien said tersely. “I’m not talking about certain lines. I’m talking about our whole team as a Jekyll and Hyde hockey club. You see when we play well how good we can be. Tonight, poor puck management never gave us a chance to win. It’s as simple as that.”