Bruins' Game 7 comeback vs. Maple Leafs in 2013 revisited

Editor's note: Before Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, NHL.com took a look back at a memorable Game 7 between the two teams in the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
With their 2018 first-round series going to Game 7 on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS, NESN), NHL.com is republishing that story, which initially was published April 11.
TORONTO -- For Toronto Maple Leafs forward Nazem Kadri, it admittedly was one of the worst moments of his NHL career.

For Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron, it was among the best of his.
When the Maple Leafs visit the Bruins in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS), it will be the teams' first playoff game against each other since Boston eliminated Toronto in seven games in the first round in 2013.
RELATED:*[Complete Bruins vs. Maple Leafs series coverage*]
But the Bruins did more than win the series. They made history and broke the Maple Leafs' hearts. Down by three goals 5:29 into the third period of Game 7, Boston rallied for a 5-4 overtime win, becoming the first NHL team to win Game 7 after trailing by three in the third.
"Lesson learned," Kadri said. "You take what happened and understand how to better handle that situation if it comes up again.
"We have young guys on this team who were still in school back then. This is a different team."
Five Maple Leafs players from that game are on their roster for this series: Kadri, forwards James van Riemsdyk and Leo Komarov, and defensemen Jake Gardiner and Morgan Rielly. (Forward Tyler Bozak missed the game with an upper-body injury.)

Seven Bruins players from that game are on the roster for this series: Bergeron, forwards Brad Marchand and David Krejci, defensemen Zdeno Chara and Adam McQuaid, and goaltenders Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin (the backup that night who did not play).
"It does make you stronger moving forward after having gone through an experience like that," Gardiner said. "We go into this series definitely having learned not to take playoff berths for granted."
For the Bruins, the victory meant more than advancing to the next round.
"Specifically, never give up," Marchand said. "Looking back, it was amazing. It was a very, very lucky situation.
"Not sure if that happened again if it would play out the same way. Like I said, we got lucky."
Some of the players and coaches in that game on May 13, 2013, shared their memories with NHL.com of how the Bruins comeback unfolded.
Claude Julien, Bruins coach: "There were some boos and people leaving with us trailing by three. I guess at that point (with 14:31 remaining in the third period), you say you have nothing to lose. You either come back or you're done. So, I did everything I could to stay calm and show poise behind the bench."
Zdeno Chara, Bruins defenseman: "I was sitting on the bench down 4-1 and looked over at [teammate] Milan Lucic and said, 'Let's just get one and start from there. Right now. This shift. Let's just get one.' And we actually did get one on that shift."

At 9:18 of the third period, the hard-charging Lucic carried the puck around the Toronto net, then fed Nathan Horton in the slot for a one-timer. Maple Leafs 4, Bruins 2.
Julien: "I remember Lucic on the bench saying, 'We got this boys, we got lots of time.' Right after that, there was a TV timeout. And right after that, his line scored the goal, him and Nathan Horton and [David] Krejci. At that point, it was 4-2 and we felt the momentum was going our way."
James Reimer, Maple Leafs goalie: "I don't remember when the second goal was. But you could kind of sense it was changing. All the big heavy teams, like this year's Bruins, you can tell when the momentum is changing like that. They start chipping it in and getting zone time. And they start rolling and start rolling. … When the big boys started rolling, it was just a matter of time."
Chara: "All of a sudden, with that second goal, there was a little spark. Then it was 'OK, guys, let's get another one.' And suddenly, we started playing on our toes. Suddenly that little spark became a flame. And then a fire."
Toronto had a chance stop Boston's momentum and go back up by three when forward Matt Frattin had a breakaway with 3:35 remaining. But Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask got a piece of Frattin's shot that went wide of the net.
Nazem Kadri, Maple Leafs forward: "People like to bring up [Frattin's] breakaway. We were up by two goals. He couldn't beat Tuukka Rask. You get asked how different things would have been had he scored. You can't put that on any single individual. Obviously, he was trying to score. Regardless, that's a lead you should hold."
With Rask pulled for an extra attacker, Lucic scored on the rebound of a Chara point shot at 18:38 to make it 4-3. As his teammates mobbed him, he looked up at the clock to see there was 1:22 remaining, then shouted, "Let's go!"
Julien: "You could sense the third goal was coming even before we pulled the goalie. Lucic was a man possessed. And that's what everyone remembers about [him]. It was a defining moment for him. We made it a one-goal game. And what I sensed was that there was panic on the Toronto side while our confidence was at an all-time high."
With Rask back on the bench, Chara (6-foot-9) planted himself in front of Reimer and proved to be the perfect screen when Bergeron's shot from the point tied the game 4-4 at 19:09, 31 seconds after the Lucic goal.
Reimer: "Chara was screening me on that play when Bergeron shot it. That's not fair. There should be a rule against that. They were just coming in wave after wave after wave. I should have just stood up and looked through his legs. I just tried to make save after save after save and keep your team in it."

Chara: "I saw how Patrice rolled up high and went basically to my spot at the point. And when I saw that, I thought, well, let's shift their whole box. And that's when I decided to go in front of the net."
Kadri: "At that time we just wanted to play to try to extend it."
The game went to overtime, the momentum clearly in Boston's favor.
Kadri: "We still had a positive mentality in the dressing room. If we had written the script and you'd told us before the series that we needed just one goal to move on to win this series, we would have taken it. It was still positive. But obviously one thing leads to another and …"
Julien: "When you start the overtime, you have a team that has surrendered a three-goal lead and is kind of fragile at that time. And us just overflowing with confidence."
With Boston pinning the Maple Leafs in their own zone, Bruins forward Tyler Seguin kicked a Bergeron rebound off the skate of Gardiner. The puck deflected right back to Bergeron, who gave Boston the improbable comeback victory with a goal at 6:05.
Reimer: "In overtime, I think we had a couple of good chances to finish it … And then they finish it on a fluky play. It went off something, a guy batted it, it went to their guy, and he had a wide-open net."

Julien: "That was typical [Bergeron]. He gives it his all. And it was fitting he was the man of the moment in overtime."
Reimer: "What was I feeling at that exact moment? I think it's like any hard moment, time stops. Your awareness -- everything kind of goes into a blur. You just kind of go into autopilot. I mean, it's a weird feeling."
Julien: "Guys in the dressing room were tired but excited. A lot of our guys had won the Cup two years earlier so they knew it was time to turn the page the next day and move on. They said, 'Let's enjoy the night but tomorrow, let's think about the next round.'
Bergeron: "It was pretty special."