NHL Playoffs 2012: 4 Things the Boston Bruins Must Do to Win Game 7

Head coach Claude Julien’s core group, historically speaking, is facing a Game 7 within a Game 7 as the Boston Bruins host the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.

The Julien era began with three consecutive move-on-or-move-out losses in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The Bruins rapidly recompensed all of that with three Game 7 victories en route to a Stanley Cup title.

To sustain their defense of that title for at least another round in 2012, Julien’s team will have to improve to 4-3 in this situation.

On the other bench, those who have been with the Caps since the advent of Bruce Boudreau and through the abrupt transition to Dale Hunter are 1-3 in Game 7s.

In order to deny the Capitals a radiant token of improvement under Hunter and reiterate that they still know these games a little better, the Bruins will need to make a point of check-marking each of the following areas.

Score First

So far, through six games, the Bruins have done this merely twice in the series.

In both cases, they won in overtime, but won nonetheless.

Conversely, the Capitals won three out of four tilts when they tune the mesh first.

Here's a reminder that Boston had the NHL’s best regular-season record when drawing first blood at 31-5-0, which translates to a .861 winning percentage.

Overwhelm Ovechkin

Boston captain Zdeno Chara and his Washington counterpart, Ovechkin, have been on the ice simultaneously for five Capitals goals, all occurring at the Verizon Center.

Ovechkin had a hand in four of those goals and has five points overall in the series.

In this deciding tilt, most naturally, Chara and partner Dennis Seidenberg will want to assert themselves in their own mansion.

Ovechkin and linemates Troy Brouwer and Brooks Laich have accounted for a 5-6-11 scoring log, meaning they have chipped in 35.7 percent of their team’s goals and 30.6 percent of their points.

Cut out the power play, and Ovechkin’s line has inserted four out of 11 Washington goals, or 36.4 percent.

If Chara and Seidenberg neutralize that and all Bruins stay out of the box, the Caps will inevitably need to resort to dark-horse suspects in the most desperate time of the season.

Keep it Clean

Their power play is steadily improving, as evidenced by one conversion in each of the last two games after zilch in the first four.

There is little reason to think they cannot continue to bank on commendable even-strength play.

But if the Bruins want to stifle any Capitals puck-slingers, whether they are from Ovechkin’s line or from backup units, they must keep penalties to a bare minimum.

Granted, Washington has mustered a seemingly minuscule bushel of three power-play goals in the series. But two of those have constituted 67 percent of Alexander Semin’s output, while the other has constituted half of Brouwer’s.

Accordingly, delete the goals scored by Ovechkin’s line along with those tallied on the power play, and you have cast aside more than half of Washington’s sustenance in the series.

Do that in Game 7, and the visitors will not be cultivating any free momentum out of TD Garden.

Lead at the 40-minute Mark

There is only one other scenario, besides scoring the first goal and holding the edge in five-on-five play, where Boston has been more dominant in 2011-12.

The Bruins were a pristine 32-0-0 during the regular season when leading after two periods and outscored the opposition 108-66 over all of their 82 closing stanzas.

Yet they have not put themselves in that favorable situation at any point in these playoffs.

With the stakes now speaking for themselves and Capitals’ goaltender Braden Holtby facing another first in his burgeoning career, Wednesday night would be the most practical time to reverse that trend.