The Boston Bruins made it to the Stanley Cup Final last season and took it to seven games. However, they suffered a bitter 4-1 defeat in Game 7 against the St. Louis Blues and came up just short of earning their first championship since 2011.
Now, the Blues are returning to the TD Garden for the first time since Game 7. But ahead of the contest, the Bruins don't seem too preoccupied with the rematch.
"It's just another game," Brad Marchand said on Friday, per NBC Sports Boston's Joe Haggerty. "Doesn't change anything that's happened in the past. You're not going to get any retribution by winning the game tomorrow.
"At the end of the day, it's 2 points. I'm sure the fans are excited; I think it will be more for them than it will us. Again, it's 2 points, that's what we have to worry about…that's over and done with."
Marchand isn't the only Bruins player to feel that way. Defenseman Brandon Carlo would go on to echo sentiments and reference that the team "can't hang on to the past."
"I think we're already to the point of moving past it," Carlo said, per NHL.com's Eric Russo. "It's a team that we have to face every single year at different portions [of the schedule] and you can't hang on to the past. I feel like we've done a really good job of remaining positive in this room.
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"The start of this season has shown our commitment level and tenacity to win. Overall, I think we're feeling pretty good in here and I don't think it will affect us anymore."
Whether or not the Bruins' performance will be affected by the game, they surely will be hungry to earn a victory against the Blues. They'll want to get that bad taste out of their mouth as they continue a strong start to the 2019-20 campaign.
So far to start the season, the Bruins are 6-1-2 and rank second overall in the Atlantic Division behind only the Buffalo Sabres. Meanwhile, the Blues are 5-2-3 and are tied with the Nashville Predators for second in the Central Division.
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