Everything at stake for Bruins in Game 7

Boston needs to flush mistakes that’ve been made

SUNRISE, Fla. — The Bruins are staring down two vastly different scenarios Sunday night when they face the Florida Panthers in a Game 7 at the Garden that already has fans white-knuckling their armchairs.

Behind Door No. 1? It’s the opportunity to prove they are the better team, which they are. They have a chance to learn from their mistakes, from the coaching staff on down, and come out on the other side stronger and smarter for having gone through the fire.

What is behind Door No. 2 is decidedly less palatable.

From a local perspective, a loss in Game 7 would join this team at the hip with the 1971 Bruins as a colossal playoff flop. Of a more recent vintage, it would link them to the 2019 Tampa Bay Lightning. Both teams had record-setting regular seasons, only to be bounced in the first round.

But there is a big difference between these Bruins and both the ’71 Black and Gold and the ’19 Bolts. The latter two teams were still ascendant franchises who could, and did, make good on their do-over opportunities.

For the 2022-23 team, this is it. Age and a coming salary-cap crunch dictate that this team will at least be partially detonated.

Yeah, there’s quite a bit of pressure involved Sunday evening, even more than your average Game 7. And it’s all on the Bruins.

So how did we get here?

They were in full control of this series, up 3-1 with a chance to close out things on home ice in Game 5. Then they decided to get cute.

With the return of Patrice Bergeron from an injury he suffered in Game 82, coach Jim Montgomery went with unfamiliar line combinations. He split up Bergeron and Brad Marchand — a pairing that’s been working for a dozen years — to try Bergeron with David Pastrnak and Tyler Bertuzzi, a trio that had never skated together as a unit.

It looked like it. They got hemmed in their own end and gave up the first goal of the game, and the Bruins would play catch-up all night.

A win in Game 7 could be cathartic and perhaps set Boston up for a long run, just like first-round Game 7 wins did in 2011, 2013 and 2019. A loss would be calamitous. If this is indeed the last seasons for Bergeron and Krejci, they do not deserve to go out that way.