The Bruins’ inability to win key playoff games at home is baffling originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
BOSTON — The Bruins have vastly underperformed over the past 15 years despite winning more regular-season games than any other team and playing in the most playoff games of any team since 2008-09.
There are many reasons why the Bruins haven’t won another Stanley Cup since 2011, and near the top of the list is their inability to win big games at TD Garden.
Homemade ice is supposed to be a plus. It’s the reason why players try so hard during the regular season. You get four of the seven games in every playoff series at home, plus the benefit of the bottom line change, plus the support of the home crowd.
But the Garden’s ice has been anything but an advantage for the Bruins in recent years.
Tuesday night’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs it was the latest example of the Bruins failing to close out a series at home. The Bruins had a great opportunity to eliminate the Leafs, who were without their best player, Auston Matthews, and started goalie Joseph Woll, who had never beaten the B’s in his career.
And yet the Bruins inexplicably got off to a horrible starthighlighted by multiple coverages, sloppy puck management, tons of faceoff losses, and very little offense – just two shots and two scoring chances in the first 20 minutes.
“We weren’t good enough. It’s as simple as that,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said of his team’s slow start in Game 5. “Toronto came out ready to play and took it to us. We weren’t ready to live up to the their despair.”
The Bruins have won just two of their last seven home playoff games. After winning Game 1 against the Florida Panthers last season, the Bruins have lost their last three home games, including defeats in Game 5 and Game 7 in overtime. A similar scenario played out in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final against the St. Louis Blues — a Game 1 win followed by three home losses, including Game 7.
The B’s have lost their last four games 5 at home. Since winning the Cup in 2011, the Bruins are 3-4 in Game 7s at home, and all of those series wins have been against the Leafs.
The Bruins are 18-16 at home in the playoffs since the start of 2018, compared to 17-15 on the road during that span (excluding the 2020 COVID bubble playoffs). They are 6-9 since 2012 in home playoff games in which they could eliminate their opponent. In fact, they have lost the last four such games.
The leaves have their own playoff demons to rest Thursday night in Game 6. They have lost six consecutive home playoff games dating back to the first round of the 2023 playoffs. The Bruins played their best two games of the series in Toronto, earning impressive victories in Games 3 and 4.
There is a lot of pressure on the Bruins to avoid losing a 3-1 series lead in consecutive years. But, unlike last season, there is also a lot of pressure on the opponent. The Leafs are under tremendous pressure due to their recent playoff failures and the roster shakeup that could occur this offseason with another exit early in the postseason.
The Bruins are a very good team and have been for over a decade. But if they want to be a true Stanley Cup contender in the near future, they’re going to have to figure out how to make home ice a real advantage.
“We saw an opportunity that we missed and we’re not going to let that happen again,” Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman said after Game 5. “The motivation is completely internal and it’s contagious in this locker room. We will be a different team on Thursday.”
