BOSTON — There is nothing particularly noteworthy or striking when you first lay eyes on TD Garden, a drab gray building constructed above a train station on Causeway Street that is among the older venues currently in use on the NHL circuit.
At least until you step inside it in the spring.
The home of the Boston Bruins has to be felt during the Stanley Cup playoffs to truly be understood and appreciated.
It’s a feeling that shook Toronto Maple Leafs teams to their core at various points during series losses here in 2013, 2018 and 2019.
Just ask them.
“TD Garden is a tough place to play,” said Connor Brown.
“It gets pretty rowdy,” said Nazem Kadri. “It’s a hostile environment.”
“There’s a wave of momentum in there,” said Mikhail Grabovski. “When they score one, then they score two, you start losing the ability to think and you get panicked.”
It is arguably the factor that remains most salient as the Leafs and Bruins drop the puck Saturday on their fourth head-to-head series since 2013. The personnel has changed drastically on both sides over the years. And the few players still around aren’t at the same level they were last time around.
What remains constant is the fact Boston is guaranteed four games of Black-and-Gold bedlam if this best-of-seven goes the distance.
The Leafs won some big games here during those prior playoff series, but when they lost they really lost. The scores of those games were 4-1, 5-1, 7-3, 7-4, 4-1, 5-1 and … 5-4, on the infamous night in 2013 when they became the first team in NHL history to squander a three-goal lead in the third period of a Game 7 and lost in overtime.
“For me, it’s always a little sensitive when these two teams meet because I was in that series, obviously,” said Kadri, who went on to win a Stanley Cup in Colorado and now plays in Calgary. “Blowing that lead in that game, that was probably the loudest I’ve ever heard a building.
“Honestly, it felt like it was going to collapse.”
Bruins fans do not make TD Garden inviting for opposing teams in the playoffs. (Alex Trautwig / Getty Images)
The wall of noise doesn’t just create a memorable atmosphere or make for an elevated television viewing experience. It affects everyone on the ice trying to maintain their focus so that they can execute at a level required in the highest-stakes games.
Looking back now, the former Leafs players see moments where they lost composure during the games in Boston and allowed a more-tenured opponent to force them into crushing mistakes.
“We had a great group of guys and players — lots of talent — but we were young,” said Brown, part of Toronto’s losses to Boston in 2018 and 2019. “That Bruins team was a very mature group. I think they’re just very poised and patient, especially in close games. They’re not forcing anything. They’re not squeezing their sticks.
“That’s just years of experience.”
Grabovski was a healthy scratch when the Montreal Canadiens played a series here in 2008 and became a key part of the 2013 Leafs team. He saw more than 20 minutes of ice time in the Game 7 loss and believes the fans inside TD Garden that night deserve an unofficial assist in the epic comeback.
“When somebody pressures you — constantly pressure, pressure — you lose the concentration,” said Grabovski. “I think it’s not just the players, even like the coaching staff, as well. It always needs to be calm. You need to find a second to think, and it’s hard to think there.”
That’s part of the challenge facing Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Co., as they try to make a memorable playoff moment here. The Boston roster may not be as strong on paper as the Florida Panthers one they were on track to play until the final days of the regular season, but that doesn’t make this an easy matchup.
Especially with Brad Marchand telling reporters this week that the present-day Bruins view Toronto as its biggest rival. It’s been a one-sided rivalry to this point. There’s a mental edge built in.
“They’re a really, really structured team,” Grabovski said of the Bruins. “When you play structure the whole year, I think it creates good habits. It’s maybe a little slower hockey, but fast puck movements. They always move pucks hard and fast. They have really good players who follow the structure.
“The Leafs need to have speed, you know? Get fast in the offensive zone because they’re a team (that needs to come in waves).”
Mikhail Grabovski says Auston Matthews and company need to use their speed against the Bruins. (Claus Andersen / Getty Images)
Brown admires how consistent the Bruins have remained while seeing former pillars like Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Tuukka Rask retire in recent years. He hopes it’s something his Edmonton Oilers can replicate as they start a playoff journey of their own.
“Players obviously are important — you’ve got to score goals — but culture and a team mentality is probably the most important,” he said. “That’s what the Bruins have had for such a long time.”
Only five Leafs players remain from the group that lost here in 2019: Matthews, Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly. There’s a good chance the younger members of the roster have only a passing idea about the history between the teams or the unique challenges that await after the bus drives up the ramp and drops them off for Game 1.
So, what advice would the former Leafs pass along now?
“Just be yourself,” said Kadri, who finished the 2018 and 2019 series watching from the press box here after being suspended. “I don’t think your game really needs to change in the playoffs. Everyone has this idea in the playoffs. Obviously the intensity is there, the attention to detail is magnified, but it’s still hockey. You’ve got to go out there and just play the way you know how to play.
“Maybe simplify at first, get your feet wet, and then go from there.”
If there’s an overriding lesson for the current-day Leafs, it’s probably to do everything in their power to keep this series from getting to a Game 7. Nobody in blue and white wants to come back here in two weeks with their season on the line.
“Until that bad game, I was kind of excited to play there,” said Grabovski. “Good memories in Boston. And then a really bad one.”
— Julian McKenzie contributed to this report from Calgary.
(Top photo of Patrice Bergeron scoring in overtime against the Maple Leafs in Game 7 in 2013: Brian Babineau / NHLI via Getty Images)
