TONIGHT, THIS IS FUN. THIS IS WHERE YOU WANT TO BE.

This is Tomas Plekanec’s fourth Game 7 against the Bruins. Unlike some of his Leafs teammates, there is no residual effect around him and most of this team from losing Game 7 with a 4-1 lead in 2013. That wasn’t the team. Some of the players remain, but really none of the major players.

Plekanec’s first sevengame series was against the Bruins in 2008. They met again in 2010 and 2011 and then in 2014 while he was playing with the Montreal Canadiens. Montreal and Boston seem to go seven games by accident every win the game and almost the Stanley Cup that season.

These are stories for him to tell at another time, memories Babcock calls them. For a young team like the Leafs, looking for its first bit of playoff success, a win could be monumental. It could carry them places they never thought possible.

But a defeat is so stark and so sudden now. Especially after battling back. These teams, Boston and Toronto, are too good and too varied to be eliminated in the first round. They both should be advancing if the world of the National Hockey League was a little more appropriate with its playoff format. This is a series that has changed in every game and sometimes in every period and often from moment to moment.

The Leafs were outscored 12-4 in the first two games and looked like they didn’t belong in the same ring with the Bruins. In the past four games, the Leafs have outscored the Bruins 12-9. In the past two games, Frederik Andersen has faced 78 shots, his save percentage has been a remarkable .949. In the past two games, Tuukka Rask has faced just 42 shots after being pulled in Game 5 and with a save percentage of just .857.

Does that trend continue? History says no. There is no continuing trend. One game doesn’t necessarily translate into the next. But sometimes in a playoff series, a goaltender can get into the heads of the shooters.

And Patrice Bergeron, with a semi-breakaway in Game 6, did the illogical on Andersen in Game 6. While in alone, rather than shooting, he passed the puck to David Pastrnak. This may be nothing. But it may be a sign Andersen has gotten to the Bruins’ best players. Maybe. There is nothing to predict for Game 7. The story unfolds, as it will. Memories? Maybe? Let the game and the games begin.