We don’t know anybody.

As members of the media, it’s part of our chosen profession, to be able to bring people closer to subjects of interest; politicians, actors, athletes. But here’s a little secret that becomes more and more evident with each passing story of sorrow and shock: It’s impossible.

Forget that we live in a digital age filled with public relations savvy and fleeting fame, even at the core of one-on-one interaction, we never really know what we’re getting from someone. Image reins over truth in most circumstances, leaving a door closed in every respect of a person’s being, the intent to sell oneself as a likeable commodity the one true goal of utilizing the media.

Aaron Hernandez used us. He used you, and he won’t be the last. What started out as a promising, if not injury-filled, NFL career is now in shambles after the former Patriots tight end was released by the team Wednesday, only 90 minutes after his arrest. Instead of exposing defenses on the field, Hernandez must now worry about his own as he faces first-degree murder charges. Like it or not, Odin Lloyd’s name will forever be associated with the darkest story to infiltrate Patriot Place.

Maybe the Red Sox were on to something when they hired a private investigator to follow Carl Crawford before signing the outfielder. Had the Patriots done their due research on Hernandez’s past, they might have understood the potentially troubling risks involved in drafting, molding, and perhaps most egregious of all, paying that risk to the tune of $40 million.

Remember when the slimiest thing you thought about Hernandez was his “make it rain” touchdown dance? Remember when you thought he was a guy with a sense of humor, taunting the Red Sox in 2011 by eating grilled chicken in the Patriots locker room? Remember when he lied to you last summer and professed change after seeing a payday reserved for very few in this world?

Nothing changed, and everything is worse than we could have possibly imagined in the days leading up to his arrest. While it seemed obstruction of justice was in the cards, the crime is being portrayed as more pre-meditated than anybody wanted to admit it could have been. If we’re to believe the prosecution, Lloyd is dead today simply because he associated with people Hernandez didn’t like at a Boston nightclub. That was June 14. Three days later, Lloyd was killed. In three days time, Hernandez either couldn’t lose steam over the incident, or meticulously plotted the murder.

And yet, this is a man you paid to see every week. This is a man whose name adorns personalized jerseys throughout New England. This was a man who showed up at schools and other various charities in the name of his team. This is a man whose likeness probably was torn down from more than one bedroom yesterday, where a young adolescent has to try and grapple the hard realities of perception and fact.

Patriot fans let Aaron Hernandez into their homes in various ways. But we never knew him despite society’s insistence to tell us otherwise.

Celebrity, fame, marketing, and advertising go together to sell you, hoping that you’ll have a connection with the shiny face or sultry voice pushing whatever. We have this eminent insistence to associate with the famous, whether it be a Kardashian or star quarterback. We buy into personalities without ever really knowing where the line of reality begins and ends. We thought we knew Aaron Hernandez because he wore our team colors, ignoring his past because he was good at catching a football.

A man is dead and another is the shattered center of one of the worst moments in NFL history. Aaron Hernandez won’t go down in infamy like Ray Lewis, but more like Rae Carruth and Jayson Williams. The New England Patriots may have done the right thing in cutting the tight end immediately after his arrest, but they have to understand that they are still on the hook for ignoring Hernandez’s checkered past. Their arrogance got in the way of what got them so much success a decade ago; character guys, team-first players.

As it turns out, they are no different than any other team. They didn’t know Aaron Hernandez.

They seemingly don’t know anybody any more.

The Cup is in Boston, and you don’t want to see it.

What a tease.

Oh, what an evening it might have been in the Hub Monday night were the Bruins able to parade the ice at the TD Garden, lofting Lord Stanley’s Cup in the direction of the rafters once thought long overdue for a new banner of any sort, hanging onto the memories provided by its long-lost predecessor. The Shawmut/FleetCenter-naming rights contest building-TD Garden has, of course, witnessed one of its inhabitants, the Celtics in 2008, have a party on the parquet floor, but it has yet to bask in the glow of freshly-polished silver bearing the names of six former Boston beloveds.

It won’t Monday night either, a possibility that evaporated during the Bruins’ uneven, no, lackluster effort during Saturday’s Game 5, 2-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, who now lead this Stanley Cup finals series, 3-2, and can win the title with a win in Boston. Neat.

Six months after the Baltimore Ravens touted the Lamar Hunt trophy as NFL AFC Champs in Gillette Stadium, en route to winning the Super Bowl, another team could come to New England Monday night and thumb its noses in the ultimate prize. This year was the first time an AFC opponent had come into Foxborough for the AFC title game and celebrated, and of course, the Edmonton Oilers celebrated their 1990 Stanley Cup championship here in 1990, but Boston has, for the most part, been a relative cold-bed for watching others party over the years.

The fact that it could be tonight, in the elimination game of a series the Bruins thought they might have control of, is sobering. It will be the final game of the season at the New Garden, regardless of outcome, awaiting a summer of transition for its basketball tenants, a light slate of concerts, and decisions to be made for the hockey team in terms of long-term contracts (Tuukka Rask) and free agency goodbyes (Nathan Horton).

Despite the heat wave that has enveloped Boston (oh, hello, late June), the NHL still has a potential three days on its active calendar, and the Bruins will be damned if they’re going to cut that down to one. If Patrice Bergeron can, in fact, play Game 6 (and signs point to that happening), the Bruins have a fighting chance against a Blackhawks team that has seemingly been invigorated ever since Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews were reunited.

The Bruins and Blackhawks have been even every game until Game 5, dominated by the Blackhawks, despite the 2-1 final. If Bruins fans were boisterous and feeling OK after a triple overtime loss and a Sega-like Game 4, Saturday had to give some pause. It was the first time Chicago looked like it was ready to take control of the series.

You can chalk it up to losing Bergeron midway through the second period, but the Bruins we saw Saturday night lacked less spark than a submerged rock. If that same team shows up Monday, the Garden is going to see something it can’t bear. Nothing against the Blackhawks, who have been every bit the challenge the Bruins expected on the ice without the diva drama witnessed two years ago with the Canucks, but you’re going to have to win it in front of your fans. I know, sorry.

Not much of this roster has changed from Vancouver. It’s virtually identical to the one that beat Toronto in a Game 7 for the ages a few weeks back. You talk about having faith in a team, these Bruins have delivered on that premise time and time again. Why not two more nights?

Yes, Saturday night was awful. That team won’t win.

Monday is a new day, and one that has the Bruins on the two-game cusp of winning their second Stanley Cup in three seasons. Win one, it’s all even. Win two, Boston parties through the weekend.

It’s that easy, right?

If the season ends tonight, it was a good run, one vindicated by the way the Bruins miraculously finished off Toronto and buzzed through New York and Pittsburgh, a performance Bruins fans hoped would come, but one that seems foolhardy after the way the team limped through its final slate of games in the regular season. Lockout? Hockey and the Bruins remain as strong as ever in Boston, as if that were really in question this time around.

But eulogies are a lot more fun when they’re accompanied by hardware. Win one. Just win one.

Then everyone can get greedy about two. We’ll see the Cup in Chicago, one way or another.

Optimistic?

Dejected?

Still just trying to catch your breath?

On the one hand, the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks gave us a thriller for the ages in Game 4 of Stanley Cup finals, a series that has already shaped to be one of the most memorable in recent NHL history. Chicago’s 6-5 win in overtime Wednesday night was the antithesis of what we’ve witnessed thus far in this showdown. Up until the puck dropped, the Bruins and Blackhawks had scored a combined 12 goals through the first 13 periods. On Wednesday, it was 11 over three-plus, and I half-wondered if someone had switched off the offside option on the dusty Sega. Combine that with the fact that Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask had not allowed Chicago to score in the last 122 minutes, 26 seconds coming into the game, and … well, you try predicting how things play out from here on out.

On the other, the Bruins delivered what was their worst effort of the postseason. Dennis Seidenberg, heir to the Army Ranger jacket following Monday night’s effort in Game 3, was a -3 on the evening, same as his counterpart Zdeno Chara, as defensive breakdowns forced Rask to pull too many rabbits out of his hat. Tyler Seguin’s giveaway on Boston’s first-period power play was inexcusable. Milan Lucic, who scored in the second period, also contributed a costly, stupid turnover that helped lead to a Chicago power play and its fifth goal in the third. And stop me if you’ve heard this before: Too many men …

Yet despite all that, despite all the uncharacteristic, sloppy play on the part of the Bruins, it took the Blackhawks another overtime to even this series at two. Chicago came out of the gate flying, and the hope from a Bruins perspective was that the Blackhawks would be forced to slow down in order for Boston to control the pace of the game. That never happened. There was no real pace except a frenetic one, and the two teams continued to trade punches, none of which had either squad in the relative clear until Brent Seabrook’s overtime goal at 9:51.

Heartbreaker for the Bruins, but had Boston netted the overtime goal, it would have been a backbreaker for the Blackhawks, who would have been forced to rally and win three straight to win the Cup. This is, after all, the style of game they want to play, one they have only been able to dictate against the Bruins in spurts so far this series. As discouraging as Game 2, and as confounding as Game 3 was on the Blackhawks' bench, if they were to lose Game 4 the way they started it, where would the inspiration have come to win in Game 5 at home?

That’s heresy though. No matter what transpires in Saturday’s Game 5, the simple fact is that the Stanley Cup will be in the building Monday night when the Bruins and Blackhawks play Game 6 at the TD Garden. One team will have the chance to parade it around the Boston ice, while the other will try and force Game 7 at the United Center on Wednesday.

Chicago certainly appeared to figure something out about the Bruins Wednesday night. But the Blackhawks can’t be encouraged by the fact that Boston, in turn, stepped up its own offensive game to force three periods of push. Let’s not mistake that for solid effort, for the Bruins were abysmal in their own zone, were out of rhythm on their power plays, and gave Rask minimal chances to lock himself down in the crease. But if you’re Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville, you can only hope that Corey Crawford figures out what ailed him glove side.

And that the Bruins forget about it.

The Bruins put forth their worst effort since the regular season, and it still took overtime for the Blackhawks to pull out a victory. Maybe that’s trying too hard to instill some sunshine in a gray cloud, and maybe it was indeed the Blackhawks who figured out how to handle the Bruins Wednesday night in the wake of many assuming the Bruins had them on the ropes, wide-eyed and left shaking their heads like the snake-bitten Penguins before them.

The Bruins and Blackhawks are headed back to Chicago for Game 5. The Cup is headed here for Monday night. Boston would most definitely like to save it some cargo airfare on a trip back to the Midwest.

It has to be one or the other, doesn’t it?

Of all the easy storylines to conjure during the Bruins’ run to the Stanley Cup, perhaps none is more polarizing than the sheer fact that Boston goalie Tuukka Rask is having a statistically better postseason in net than his predecessor, Tim Thomas, had during the 2011 championship. There is a certain level of wonderment over that, based on how special both performances are. But there’s also the all-too-easy-to-expect, tiresome talking head backlash against Thomas and how he chose to end things here that has some thumbing their collective nostrils at what transpired against the Vancouver Canucks. Tuukka is better, suck on that, Thomas. Then, there’s a bunker joke or something.

With Game 4 against the Chicago Blackhawks looming Wednesday night, Rask has indeed had an historic run during this postseason; 14-5, with a 1.64 GAA and .946 save percentage to go along with three shutouts, including Monday night’s 2-0 win in Game 3. Two years ago, Thomas was 16-9 with a 1.98 GAA and .940 save percentage to go along with four shutouts, including the 4-0, Game 7 clincher over Vancouver.

Similar stats. Different paths.

Despite the odd way that Thomas shot his way out of town, frustrating the higher-ups in the organization and threatening to taint the heroic name he had made for himself after helping to deliver Boston’s first Stanley Cup trophy in 39 years, I’m still a sucker for the Tim Thomas story. When overwhelming determination wins over those who tell you that something can’t be done, there is indeed a bit of liberty assumed. I could care less about whatever political views Thomas possesses, unlike many, who use his stances as hackneyed punchlines. Thomas got deserved grief for not visiting the White House with his teammates last year because of his issues with President Obama. If only Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein had gotten the same criticism for not attending in 2005 with George Bush at the helm.

Could we be any more hypocritical?

Thomas’ hardship-into-reality avenue remains an inspiration though, despite how some in the local media have dented the narrative simply because he sees civic responsibility in a different light. One local sports radio drive time host recently pounded his chest over Rask’s emergence in these playoffs and had this message for Thomas: “Smell ya later.” The talk then went to a fifth-grade level for the remainder of the show.

So why is it that Rask’s dominance allows us to forget what Thomas meant in the eyes of many? Why do we have to even compare the two, which is really an impossibility, in the first place? One looks like he’s on Prozac in net. The other made everyone watching him pop Prozac.

That doesn’t make either run any less important or impressive. Why is it so difficult to appreciate each player for what he is or was?

What Rask is doing against the likes of offensive juggernauts such as the Penguins and Blackhawks (Chicago hasn’t scored in the last 122 minutes, 26 seconds of this series), is unprecedented. But there was a time, remember, when what we considered unprecedented was winning a playoff series for the first time in a decade. Thomas was there for that. A Stanley Cup in Boston, or at least not one paraded around by Ray Bourque? Thomas was there for that.

While Thomas had to claw for a job in the NHL, Rask has been known in some circles as one of the best goalies in the world as a junior, so it’s not like this stretch is coming out of nowhere. Their backstories are completely different. Rask was always supposed to do this, while Thomas never was. Thomas has himself a Conn Smythe, and unless David Krejci has anything to say about it, Rask may well be on his way to his own.

“I think it’s just as good. No doubt,” Claude Julien said earlier this week about his goalie. “Tim has been a great goaltender for us. When you lose a guy like that, there’s always that fear that you’re not going to be able to replace him. Tuukka’s done an outstanding job. To me, he’s been as much of a contributor to our team as Tim was two years ago.”

This isn’t Brady-Bledsoe, with each guy fighting for the limelight. If anything, it’s more Clemens-Pedro. Each player was great for a segment of their time here, but the latter was poised in time to take over as the greatest at his position in team history while the former remains unappreciated because of his egotistical drive for greatness, not to mention cash.

Tim Thomas is not Roger Clemens. But Rask may indeed be the Pedro Martinez of the Boston Bruins.

If the Bruins win the Stanley Cup, it shouldn’t be about forgetting Thomas, but appreciating Rask. Why, again, exactly, is that so hard?

Claude Julien’s new game plan: “OK, boys, everybody get in the box.”

If it took some level of oddity for the power play-deficient Boston Bruins to overcome their woes in order to win the Stanley Cup in 2011, it’s going to take some wild form of divine intervention from the spirit of Dave Andreychuk to fix what ails the Chicago Blackhawks on the man-advantage in these Stanley Cup Finals. Oh, of course, give credit where it’s due to the Bruins’ suffocating penalty-kill squad, which has now not allowed a goal in 27 straight shorthanded opportunities, but what the Blackhawks are delivering the Bruins in that regard is like Chief Brody feeding the shark a can of sardines in hopes of making him vacate Amity Island.

It’s clearly not enough, and if head coach Joel Quenneville can’t remedy the situation in time for Game 4 Wednesday night at the TD Garden, the Bruins are going to devour the Blackhawks with the likelihood of raising the Stanley Cup and parading it around the United Center in Chicago Saturday night.

After the Blackhawks’ power play performance in Game 2, a 2-0 shutout at the hands of the Bruins, who now lead the Stanley Cup finals, 2-1, even Tomas Kaberle, the enigmatic puck-moving defenseman who was brought in at the ’11 deadline to help remedy Boston’s own malaise with the 5-4, had to be laughing at Chicago’s effort. At the very least, much of what didn’t work with Kaberle, who came to the Bruins with 22 power-play assists with Toronto, was the fact that the defenseman never felt comfortable with his role, oftentimes freezing in time with the puck as Julien, his teammates, and 17,565 strong smacked their foreheads in frustrating unison. It was a unit that Blackhawks fans can only dream about having these days.

When Shawn Thornton was called for roughing (cough) on Andrew Shaw at 14:15 in the second period, it sparked Chicago's second power play of the game. The first came on Kaspars (see ya) Daugavins hit on Shaw at 9:57, which was only one of at least three moments during the game that Bruins fans started thirsting for Julien to release the Swede, Carl Soderberg, in favor of the deserved punching bag of the series thus far. Chicago managed zero shots on its first power play of the evening, and they did get one off in the second, but it was during that two minutes that the Bruins made the Blackhawks look like they were, in fact, the one on the man disadvantage.

The puck spent so much time in the Chicago and neutral zones that it might as well have made a cocktail with the faltering ice. Chris Kelly, Rich Peverley, and Brad Marchand (who broke his stick in frustration at the bench in the face of Daugavins when the puck sailed off of it) each had scoring chances, and when the disadvantage was over, it was clear that the only advantages on the evening would be in Boston’s favor, whether the Bruins found themselves in the penalty box or not.

The Bruins’ penalty kill is so good right now, and the Blackhawks power play is so increasingly futile, that the Bruins can physically have their way with Chicago the rest of this series. And the repercussions will be … what?

“Our power play tonight was definitely not good,” Quenneville said.

The sun will rise, the sun will set. And I’ll have lunch.

What’s even more remarkable about the Bruins’ PK success (at 88.9 percent, the fourth-best rate in the postseason), is that they are doing it without one of the squad’s key members in Gregory Campbell, lost to a broken fibula in a memorable sequence trying to stave off a Penguins power play in the Eastern Conference finals, but with David Krejci stepping in, the team hasn’t missed a beat. If and when the Bruins raise the Cup, Campbell’s grit will remain a lasting symbol of this playoff run, as will his linemates’ ability to shut down two of the more powerful offensives in the NHL.

"It's just time to get a goal," Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith told the Chicago Tribune. "There's nothing more to say about it."

Maybe not. But there may be plenty of time for the Blackhawks to think about it come Saturday.

Touché, Chris Kelly. Touché.

The Boston Bruins were down, 1-0, to the Chicago Blackhawks during the second period of Saturday’s Stanley Cup finals Game 2, with the Bruins looking as sluggish and attack-driven as the protagonists in an anti-pot commercial. At one point, NBC’s Pierre McGuire – behind the glass, you know – mentioned that it was the much-maligned alternate captain Kelly (zero goals, zero assists, and a -9 for the playoffs to that point, including a -3 in Boston’s Game 1, triple overtime loss in Game 1 against Chicago) who had been most vocal on the Bruins’ bench, trying desperately to light a fire from under his overmatched teammates.

It was a pot and kettle moment worthy of ridicule.

Chris Kelly challenging his teammates to be better is the very definition of irony.

— Eric Wilbur (@GlobeEricWilbur) June 16, 2013

Whoops.

Of course, a few moments later it was Kelly scoring his first goal since April 17 to tie the Blackhawks, and help spark his team to a 2-1, (hey, look) overtime win, evening the series at a game apiece. Daniel Paille (who also assisted on Kelly’s goal) scored the game-winner at 13:48 of the extra frame as the Bruins dominated the second half of a game that once looked like it was going to go down as one of the most laughable Boston efforts this postseason.

If Chicago can’t rout Boston after the start the Bruins had in Game 2 – four shots in the first period, and their chances saved by a dazzling Tuukka Rask – then the Bruins can start every game like that for all I care. Save the legs for the third period and overtime, and let Rask keep you in the game until then. The Bruins looked as though they were skating in a whirlpool for much of the first period (has Rich Peverly gone color-blind?), while the Blackhawks came out on the offensive despite having logged five periods of hockey over their own last two games.

OK, so maybe the disputed Jonathan Toews goal lends some credence to the likelihood that Chicago should be up 2-0 with Game 3 Monday night at the TD Garden. Maybe there’s some truth to Mike Milbury’s continued criticism of Jaromir Jagr’s aloofness despite the effort (a team-high five shots on net) he produced in the win. Maybe Toews and Patrick Kane are ticking time bombs on the ice. The Bruins could – should – be up in this series, 2-0, not the Blackhawks. Can we agree on that after Saturday night, a game the Bruins flat out stole from Chicago?

Coming into this series, most had the Bruins and Blackhawks pretty evenly matched, with a slight edge to Chicago. After two games, the teams are evenly matched with a slight edge to Boston. Heading home.

Boston is now 13-5 this postseason, which is a record that wildly discounts the fact that the Bruins are now 9-2 over their last 11 playoff games against the Rangers, Penguins, and now Blackhawks. The Blackhawks are 8-3 over their last 11. Nobody is handing Lord Stanley to either city, and certainly won’t until Game 5 Saturday in Chicago, or as may Bruins fans are hoping, Game 6 in Boston, on home ice, but aren’t there more reasons to be encouraged about the Bruins than there are the Blackhawks?

If you doubt them, they prove you wrong. Always. From Game 7 against Toronto right up to Chris Kelly’s biggest goal of 2013 campaign. Not that there are many to choose from, but still…

"I try to score consistently,'' Kelly said. "For whatever reason, I haven't. So I try to stay positive and other ways. As long as we win, that's what matters. That's how it is in our room.''

From goat to cheerleader to major key in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals. All in a matter of minutes.

Jagr might have a hat trick Monday night. That’ll show Milbury.

Whatever.

Not to be too flippant or brazen after 112:08 minutes of a game that the Boston Bruins will never get back, and maybe I'm simply waking up with a vision blurred, but am I wrong in being encouraged despite the Chicago Blackhawks’ epic 4-3 triple overtime win in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals?

You met the Blackhawks Wednesday night and despite a 3-1 third-period lead, let it get away. OK. Don’t let it happen again.

Easy.

Yes, Kaspars Daugavins could have buried his sixth-period opportunity. Yes, Torey Krug did commit a “terrible turnover” (thanks, Tuukka Rask). And yes, you could have had another hour of sleep after stubbing your toe on the couch and muttering expletives when Andrew Shaw scored the game-winner at some godly hour Thursday.

Did a triple-overtime loss ever feel so good?

The Bruins are down 1-0 to the Blackhawks in this series thanks to mental mistakes, not thanks to being thoroughly overmatched by the Franchise That Saved Hockey (copyright, Sports Illustrated). This was a game where you almost felt relief, despite the outcome, if only because it finally meant rest after some five hours of intense indifference of anything else than what was transpiring away from the ultra-bright white glow in your living room. Unlike Boston’s double-overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals last week, this wasn’t an emotional backbreaker. It was Game 1.

It sucks. You move on.

The only postgame quote that matters a lick came from Bruins head coach Claude Julien, who didn’t exactly seem like he had the fear of God instilled in him after facing The Franchise That Saved Hockey. “When you look at the game, it could have gone either way,” he said.

Simple.

Whatever.

"We had the game," Rask said. "We're up 3-1 in the third and then a terrible turnover leads to a second goal and then a tough bounce leads to the tying goal, and we just gave it away.”

Three-to-one leads are nothing to sniff at, of course, when it comes to recent Bruins history, and the lapse in Krug’s decision-making, going from postseason hero to goat, could cost him ice time in Game 2. But if Zdeno Chara’s second-overtime dink that got past Corey Crawford is the difference between the Bruins parading Lord Stanley’s Cup down Boylston Street and the thing having to travel back to the Midwest, then we’ll look at Game 1 of this series as a heartbreaker.

Right now? It’s a missed opportunity. Nothing more. If confidence is a triple-overtime loss, then Boston has an ego the size of Downers Grove in the wake of Game 1.

The Bruins knew about as much about the Blackhawks heading into Wednesday night as you did, save for some added highlight reels. There was a bit of mystery on both sides for a good while, each team trying to sniff each other out. Now, the Bruins know what they’re up against. The Franchise That Saved Hockey has a 1-0 lead in the Stanley Cup finals, and has to be frightened to Phil Esposito about what they experienced in grabbing it.

Wednesday night might suggest to most that this is going the distance, that these two teams are so evenly matched that the Cup finals are going to – have to – be decided in seven games. Nope. The Bruins might now take this thing in five.

The Bruins lost Game 1. The Blackhawks didn’t beat them. Think of it this way; if the Bruins were going to perform mental mistakes (hey, look, too many men!) as frequently as Jim Leyland sneaks into the tunnel for a puff, Game 1 is opportune. These are not the 2010 gaggers. Been there, done that.

These Bruins are all about reaction to the moment, or did you forget Game 7 against Toronto? As miraculous as that evening was though, it happened to lay the foundation for what we thought about this team’s characteristics. Resilient. Confident. Dare we say it, trustworthy.

That is this Bruins team, and a six-period hockey game didn’t destroy that. It might have made it stronger.

“Not disappointed in our effort,” Julien said.

No reason to be. The Bruins and Blackhawks gave us one for the ages Wednesday night. It brought back memories of Petr Klima and 1990. But this … this won’t go down like that.

It was a chapter in hockey history that will go down as one of the greatest games to ever be played. Tough loss. Tough break. Oh well.

There might even be another rainbow hovering over the TD Garden today, and a Cup hoisted there before the end of the month. This team has proven in the past that it bounces back from adversity after dwelling in it thanks to the Philadelphia Flyers. The Bruins didn’t make a more difficult road for themselves, they simply laid the pavement and are waiting on the paint guys to put down the lines leading to another summer of glory. That much I am certain of.

But if you tell me Nathan Horton is done, the white flag is up.

Bad news, folks. The Bruins are not an underdog.

It’s a split, for sure, but plenty of people are picking Boston to beat the Chicago Blackhawks and win their second Stanley Cup title in three years. There’s no disrespect card to play this time around.

Who ya got? Here’s a look at who’s picking whom.

Boston.com sports staff:

Matt Pepin: Blackhawks in 7: I expect one intense game after another, just the way a final series should be.

Steve Silva: Bruins in 6. Tuukka stays solid. And Tyler Seguin scores a goal or two.

Zuri Berry: Bruins in 5. The Bruins' defensive mastery is reminiscent of the team's 2011 Stanley Cup Final series with Canucks.

Chad Finn: Bruins in 6: As penance for losing, all blasphemous photos of Bobby Orr as a Blackhawk must be removed from the United Center.

Gary Dzen: Bruins in 6. The Bruins are too balanced and Rask is playing too well for the Blackhawks to win.

Mark Lazerus, Chicago Sun-Times: Blackhawks in seven. “Both teams are weary and surely banged-up. It’s a toss-up between two great defensive teams with two red-hot goalies. In the end, the Hawks’ offensive depth — and home-ice advantage — wins out.”

Globe staff: Four out of four pick the Bruins.

James Murphy, ESPNBoston.com: Bruins in 6. “This should be one heck of a series and could easily go the distance with either team winning. The teams are very evenly matched, but in the end, their roads to the finals might be the difference. Yes, the Blackhawks beat the defending Stanley Cup champions in the Western Conference finals, but the Bruins completely shut down one of the best offenses in recent memory in the Penguins and also blitzed the team many picked to win the Stanley Cup in the Rangers. The Bruins will get a split in Chicago to start the series and win the Cup in Game 6 back in Boston.”

Foxsports.com staff: Six out of 10 pick the Bruins.

Jesse Spector, The Sporting News: Blackhawks in seven. “I've been pretty on the ball, so the way I see this series getting decided is that either the Bruins start getting overly physical or the Blackhawks run into a too-hot goalie, which Tuukka Rask, to this point, has been. Thing is, Chicago beat a hot goalie in Quick, and Boston really appears to have a good handle on staying away from retaliatory penalties and similarly stupid nonsense.”

Sports Illustrated staff: Allain Muir and Brian Cazeneuve pick the Bruins. Sarah Kwak and Adrian Dater pick the Blackhawks. Dater: “ All my New England relatives will cut me off from receiving Dunkin’ Donuts and Papa Gino’s gift cards at Christmas, but I’ve got to stick with the Blackhawks. (Actually, the folks will be thrilled, since the dreaded #DaterJinx is now in play.) Chicago has been the league’s best team all year, so why should it stop now? The Blackhawks and Bruins both showed their character by coming back from the dead in previous series and appear to be playing their best hockey at just the right time. But with that extra home game on United Center ice, and with all the passion that brings, I like the Hawks in the final game. The Bruins aren’t going to be shutting out Kane, Toews and Hossa like they did Crosby, Malkin and Iginla. If that happens, I’ll eat nothing but Dunkin’ Donuts Boston Cremes for a year. At least I’d die happy.”

98.5 The Sports Hub staff: 16 out of 19 pick the Bruins.

NHL/NHL.com staff: 12 out of 19 pick the Blackhawks.

New England Hockey Journal staff: Four out of four pick the Bruins.

CBS Sports.com staff: Two out of three pick the Blackhawks.

ESPN staff: Nine out of 12 pick the Bruins.

Jeremy Roenick, NBC: Chicago Blackhawks, man. (We assume.)

It says here: Bruins in six. Watch out Foxwoods.

You want the Pittsburgh sweep to mean something? Really mean something?

It begins in Chicago. It ends in the Back Bay with amphibious touring vehicles.

The historic beatdown of the Penguins will linger as a blip in Boston sports history, a moment that will go uncherished despite its significance, if the Bruins don’t find a way to beat the Chicago Blackhawks and win their second Stanley Cup in three years. The series will be a footnote on par with the Patriots’ win over the Chargers in the 2007 AFC title game. It would be like the 2004 Red Sox losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series after the comeback against the Yankees: Incomplete. Unfulfilling.

The improbable comeback against the Maple Leafs. The thorough domination of an offensive squad seen once in a generation. The Jarome Iginla storyline and beating Matt Cooke, it will all go down as a forgotten memory if Zdeno Chara doesn’t hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup by the end of this month. May-June, 2013 will be relegated to nothing more than a fun ride and the electricity that filled this city two years back will be little more than a lost possibility on the horizon of Illinois.

Despite the fact that the Bruins are Dante Hicks from “Clerks” in that they’re not supposed to be here today, the failure to capture the prize will result in disappointment. Had they simply lost to the Penguins in fighting fashion, we wouldn’t have this discussion. But now, well, they’ve upped the ante. We can argue whether or not they should beat the Blackhawks beginning Wednesday night at the United Center, but isn’t it clear that now they need to?

Ok, OK, so it’s not like this edition of the Bruins will be labeled choke-artists if they can’t accomplish the job. It’s clear after the miracle win in Game 7 against Toronto and the way they handled themselves against the Penguins that they are indeed nothing of the sort, a reputation they truly took care of in the wake of the 2010 collapse and the 2011 victory, but still an identity that remained a question following what happened against the Capitals in 2012.

Life, of course, will go on if the parade is Midwest-bound. But the Bruins, these Bruins, will have failed to remain in the argument of the best hockey team in Boston history.

That is a debate that seemed foolhardy in early May when this team came off an uneven end to the shortened 2013 campaign. It wasn’t exactly a huge stretch (despite relentless arguments to the contrary) to predict the Bruins falling to the Leafs in the first round. It came 10 minutes away from happening. Instead, we have “Bergeron! Bergeron!” and another trip to the final. Tuukka Rask can officially put the Flyers behind him. Claude Julien can finally re-up for another year of Field and Stream at his current address. Jeremy Jacobs can raise beer prices without having a revolution on his hands.

But clearly, there’s more at stake than concessions. Well, for everyone except the Jacobs at least.

Julien can go from embattled head of state to the greatest coach in Bruins history with a series win over Chicago, a classification that would have had you committed six weeks ago should you have suggested it. Peter Chiarelli could become the most sought-after general manager in the NHL after what he’s constructed here in Boston. The Bruins can join the Red Sox and Patriots as multiple winners in this decade-plus of magic and party streamers, and make their mark as something as close to a dynasty as the NHL has seen in years.

The Boston Bruins, the franchise that went a decade in between playoff series victories, have a chance to become the model franchise in the league. Sorry, Montreal. Apologies, Vancouver.

The new way of doing business in the NHL has been dictated by Claude Julien and the Boston Bruins. Pinch me.

But they still have to beat the Blackhawks. History and the way this team is remembered is at stake.

The mission begins Wednesday. The parade should be within a fortnight. Please plan accordingly.

Owen is a popular cat these days, but nobody can seem to get in touch with him. (Potty mouth warning.)

Rumor has it that the chap is hiding out in the Steel City, though attempts to reach him have gone unsuccessful and it’s gotten to the point where Pittsburgh folks are getting a bit fed up with any attempts to reach the elusive fella. Yet, they do seem resigned to the fact that maybe, just maybe, he will indeed resurface at some point Friday for his potential big shindig in Boston.

"We were really good sports about the first couple [of calls]," Souper Bowl spots bar manager Jess Santavy said, "but it's like 40 times a day."

In fact, the stench of Owen has infiltrated all of Pittsburgh it seems. Nobody wants to meet him, and they damned well sure don’t want him to make a bigger name for himself when their beloved Penguins take on the Bruins in Friday’s Game 4 of the NHL’s Eastern Conference final. Larger than life. Bigger than Jesus. Why all the fuss?

"Because he's from Boston, and I don't like him!" local sports radio host Vinnie Richichi said.

Bostonians, they love Owen. A week ago, nobody could honestly have told you he or she would have the chance to meet him, so the opportunity shouldn’t be wasted. The new Owen Wilson movie opens this weekend. Spike Owen once played for the Red Sox. Native New Englander John Irving wrote “A Prayer for Owen Meany.” There’s a Boston Pizza in Owen Sound, Ontario. But this Owen, he's better.

With a win over the Penguins Friday, the Bruins can inexplicably insert Owen into the Stanley Cup playoffs history books. Owen who? Well, his surname hasn’t exactly been finalized. Not yet.

He’s gone by various aliases over the last seven days. One. Two. Currently, we hear he’s at Three, but they’re not telling us anything in Pittsburgh. They think they can snuff him out and keep him quiet until another year, when they may in fact be the ones calling for Owen. But Owen is coming Friday to Boston. He has to.

Eliminate doubt. The Bruins can hardly allow that elephant to waltz into the dressing room, allowing for a return trip to Pittsburgh. There’s only so much ineptitude you can expect from Crosby, Malkin, Iginla, and company. Settle this now. Save gas. It’s an earth thing.

Besides, it’s not like the Bruins have exactly had the easiest time closing out series when they’re delivered their first opportunity to do so. They failed against the Rangers. They almost gagged against the Maple Leafs. They were miserable against the Capitals last spring in that regard. 2010.

"It's a cliché now that the fourth game is the toughest to win,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. "But it's something we learned and it's something we remember."

In this instance, Barney Stinson is right; Johnny Lawrence is the good guy in “The Karate Kid.” No mercy.

“You just have to have that killer instinct and forget about what happened in the past or in the past three games and just focus on that one game,” Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg said. “And whenever we play in the moment, we play our best hockey."

What kind of performance is worthy of Owen? Games 1 and 2 against the Penguins are a good start. Game 3, for all its drama and intensity, should be a lesson to avoid. The Bruins played their worst hockey of the series, their worst since the series against Toronto, really, in Game 3, and it took a double overtime effort for it not to cost them. Tuukka Rask may have had his national coming out party as a result, but asking the man to stop another 53 shots is something nobody can really expect. After 11 periods of hockey over three games, Rask could probably use an extended break more than any one of his teammates in advance of Chicago or Los Angeles.

That’s why Owen is so sought out. It’s why he needs to come to Boston.

"We still have hope," Santavy told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "and we hope to be able to call the bars in Boston back."

Sorry, Owen is ours and nobody else can have him. Meet him tonight. He’ll be down on Causeway.

Camp-bell! Camp-bell! Camp-bell!

Do yourself a favor if you haven’t already this spring. Flip back and forth between a playoff hockey game and a regular season baseball game. The experience is something akin to bungee jumping and suddenly hitting a bird on the way down. You’re still conscious, you’re still soaring, but you’re also taking stock of where exactly the thrill disappeared and climbing that ladder as quickly as you can to get it back.

We make that analogy not to deride baseball, simply to point out the obvious. Oh, and in case you missed it, Jacoby Ellsbury missed his fifth straight game Wednesday night at Fenway Park with a sore groin while across town, Gregory Campbell helped kill a power play on a broken leg. Last month, Clay Buchholz missed a start because (ahem) he slept wrong with an infant. Meanwhile, Gregory Campbell helped kill a power play in Game 3 against the Penguins on a broken leg.

Patrice Bergeron may be sporting the Army Rangers jacket after his game-winning goal in double overtime gave the Bruins a 2-1 win over Pittsburgh in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final, but yes, Gregory Campbell indeed stole the show. I don’t even care, use whatever cliché you want to describe him. Make Crash Davis blush. “Heart of a champion.” “Warrior.” “Gamer.” “One fibula at a time.” They all apply.

The one he’ll be remembered as after that play is simple. “Bruin.”

"Not like anybody questions what kind of guts he had, but it's pretty neat to see a guy just back up how tough everybody knows he is," Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference said. "I mean, that's the epitome of what it takes to be at this point in the playoffs. He really puts the extra effort in to trying to stop a really good power play and unfortunately, has trouble there. But that whole line, I think, has garnered respect from our dressing room and the fans for what they've always done for us. And that's just another thing to kind of put on the list of why they're so important for us."

We’re a long way from enjoying a DVD of this Bruins postseason, but if one were to come, Campbell’s gusty play in Game 3 will indeed be a focal point. About halfway through the second period, with the Penguins on their third power play of the evening, Campbell blocked a shot by Evgeni Malkin, and crumpled to the ice in pain. The power play continued around him as he writhed in agony, but somehow got to his feet, like Vader dragging his body up to make a last-ditch effort to save his son. He stayed out there, limping on one skate, reaching his stick out to block a key pass that broke up a play. And when the power play was over – 50 seconds after one of the toughest displays the Garden has seen in a long while - and the puck cleared, he made his way to the bench.

Camp-bell! Camp-bell! Camp-bell!

The chants showered from the Garden rafters with praise for the Bruins’ popular fourth-line center, in recognition of the determination he had shown. As has now been reported by ESPNBoston.com, Campbell suffered a broken leg on the Malkin blocked shot, which makes the nature of the play grow ever instantaneously.

“We tried to rally around him,” Bergeron said, probably sheepishly accepting the jacket that rightfully belonged to Campbell. “We tried to do it for him.”

Think about the impact Campell’s show of toughness showed. Particularly during an evening when the legends of Bergeron, Tuukka Rask (53 saves), and yes … Claude Julien grew to historic proportions in Boston, the moments everyone is talking about on Thursday are the 50 seconds during which a fourth-liner showed grit and heart during a penalty kill. The Boston Bruins are averaging one goal per period in this series, while the offensive powerhouse Penguins have scored at the shocking rate of 0.18 per frame. Boston can do the unthinkable Friday night and complete the sweep in Boston, setting up another Stanley Cup final appearance. And it’s not because of superstars like Malkin or Sidney Crosby or (cough) Jarome Iginla, but because of guys like Gregory Campbell, players who know their role and have bought into the system. “Heart and soul guys.”

Bruins.

"For what he went through, he showed a lot of guts to stay out there and to still try and play," Julien said. "Obviously it was a pretty serious injury, so that's just the kind of player he is, and it doesn't surprise me, it doesn't surprise his teammates, but certainly it shows the character of that player, and that's why we appreciate having him on our team."

Campbell is likely gone for the remainder of the playoffs. He still might be back before Ellsbury.

Put in the simplest terms, the Bruins need to go just 6-6 over their next potential 12 games to win the Stanley Cup; 2-3 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, whom they lead in the Eastern Conference final, 2-0, with Game 3 looming Wednesday night in Boston, and 4-3 vs. whichever team emerges from the Western Conference final, Los Angeles or Chicago.

Of course, it’s a lot more complicated than that.

Right? Isn’t it?

Cliché alert: the Penguins probably know what needs to be done, but whether they can accomplish that task and overcome the buzzsaw Bruins is the question on everybody’s mind. After what we’ve witnessed in the first two games against the belly-flopping Penguins – heck, ever since the miracle Game 7 against Toronto, the Bruins are a healthy 7-1 in the NHL playoffs - it’s easy for Bruins fans to develop a sense of security about Boston’s dominance, which is even more remarkable considering this squad was 10 minutes away from major offseason changes.

Or perhaps the confidence is astonishing simply because of recent history. The Bruins were the Penguins in 2011 against the Canadiens, down 2-0 in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals before rallying on the road in their first step toward the Cup. The Bruins had a commanding 3-1 lead on the Maple Leafs this postseason before it took divine intervention to snatch joy away from Toronto. There is the 2010 Flyers series that we no longer speak of.

But in the aftermath of the Bruins’ dominant 6-1 win over Pittsburgh in Game 2 Monday night, the Penguins sounded like a defeated bunch, frustrated by an offensive attack its defensive corps can’t handle with a goalie controversy and players consistently skating out of place. The Bruins have outscored the offensive-fire powered Penguins, 9-1, over two games, with Tuukka Rask seemingly having to do little in net thanks to the numbing approach by Pittsburgh. The Penguins, a team that spent March as the only undefeated team for a month in NHL history, need to go just 8-4 for their first Stanley Cup win since 2009, but yet it seems all the more challenging after the inefficiencies and lack of answers following Monday night.

"We've only won two games, so I don't know if we have had success yet. Actually, I know we haven't. We're paying attention to detail and doing things as a group.

"If we're sitting here happy about (being up 2-0) and celebrating, then we are making a crucial mistake. You can be happy and the fans can be happy and our parents and family can be happy and good for them. But we have no time to be happy right now."

Patrice Bergeron? Brad Marchand? Zdeno Chara? Nope, that was Montreal forward Michael Cammalleri, after the Canadiens delivered a 3-1 loss to the Bruins in Game 2 of their playoff series two years ago, Boston’s sixth playoff loss in a row. There’s a reason Claude Julien is pointing to that series in particular when preparing the Bruins for Wednesday’s Game 3. To that point, the Habs had held the higher-seeded Bruins to one goal over two games, just as Rask and the Boston defense has done in this series against Pittsburgh. It took an overtime win in Game 4, a double overtime win in Game 5, and another overtime win in Game 7 for the Bruins to complete the comeback what we thought was a series for the ages until Tampa Bay. Until Vancouver.

The Bruins went 12-6 the rest of the way in hoisting their first Stanley Cup since 1972. This edition needs half as many wins for another one.

There’s another reason why Julien should remind his Bruins about that Canadiens series; it was when their character was born, particularly following the painful hangover of 2010. Suddenly, the Bruins weren’t choke-artists, a team that stared down overtimes and Game 7’s as if they were another day picking up the kids from school. If we had to be further reminded about that, there’s always Game 7 against the Leafs, even though nobody will be able to ever fully explain it.

If the Penguins are that team, if Sidney Crosby is the player worthy enough to wear an NHL “C” and provide some semblance of inspiration for his All-Star cast of characters, we certainly didn’t see any of it in Game 2, when the Penguins came out like the Bugs Bunny All-Stars, playing a defensive brand of hockey that probably had the Patriots backfield snickering.

It sure feels over.

"We are in good shape, but now we have to take care of business," Rask said … on May 5, 2010, after a 4-1 win over the Flyers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The records don’t seem to indicate what happened after that.

Feeling over isn’t being over. But damn … it sure feels over, doesn’t it?

It’s easy to manufacture a story line out of any sporting event, but it’s often the ones that are created that fail to live up to the hype.

The same goes for rivalries, organic antagonisms for one another that are at their best when they rise from a specific incident or series of tug-of-wars that breed dislike, and at their most laissez-faire when they’re a product of marketing or something that is bred from “First Take.” Contempt is conceived, not assembled.

When it comes to the Bruins and Penguins, playing their first Eastern Conference final against each other since “Encino Man” was in theaters, the rivalry certainly isn’t on par with the historic dislike Boston has for Montreal, or the instant dislike that was born from the ashes in Vancouver two years ago, but the story lines are natural, if not somewhat force-fed. Jarome Iginla’s Decision. The history behind Cam Neely-Ulf Samuelsson. Jaromir Jagr returning to his original NHL haunt. Matt Cooke.

It’s a necessary refrain to remind you that Marc Savard will watch the Bruins and Penguins across the land at home, on TV instead of centering one of his former team’s top lines and pivoting the Boston power play, where his absence the last three years has been most notable. It was, of course, Cooke’s cheap, yet not suspendable, shot on Savard in 2010 that was the beginning of what has most likely become the end of Savard’s career. Cooke’s public relations team, also known as the Pittsburgh hockey media, will tell you that is all in the past. Cooke is a changed man, one who only sliced the Achilles of Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson when he stepped on the left leg of the Senators defenseman last February.

Incidental, Cooke’s team of protectors will tell you.

"I don't buy any of that garbage," Senators owner Eugene Melnyk said in the wake of the incident. "Five times? No, we're No. 6? How about seven and eight? At what point do you say, 'You know what? Maybe he's not changed.' You do this enough times, don't try to convince me or anybody else. People are way too intelligent. The guy gets suspended five times. That's how many times he's been suspended, never mind how many times he's not been suspended.

"I'm just shocked that that organization employs that type of individual."

Pittsburgh Tribune Review columnist Dejan Kovacevic told Melnyk and the Senators to “shut up” following that statement for saying naughty things about dear old Cookie. But still, the criticisms came. In advance of the teams’ next meeting, NBC’s Mike Milbury called the Penguins forward a “skunk,” and NHL circles turned on their heads over such an egregious act. Must protect Cooke at all costs.

"I've said many times [the Karlsson hit] was a freak accident," Cooke said earlier this month. "I didn't think I owed anyone any accountability for something I didn't intentionally do.

"I hit Marc Savard intentionally. That's a big difference. I certainly didn't intend for the results to be what they were, but I intended to hit him.”

Results are what we pay for though, aren’t they? If intentions can be tried, we’d all be guilty. It’s what we do and how we carry out our instincts that define our reputations, for better or worse. NHL fans are implored to understand that Cooke has changed his ways, which is true to a great degree. But it’s impossible to forget the Savard incident and what it has meant for the player, the human. It’s impossible to witness a play like Cooke-Karlsson from this season and assume everything is hunky-dory with someone who boasts such a checkered past.

When the Bruins see Cooke, they see blood. When Pittsburgh sees Cooke, it sees gumdrops. He was even the recipient of the Edward J. DeBartolo “Community Service” Award last season, which, um, didn’t sit too well with Jack Edwards.

Iginla will receive most of the media focus during this Super Bowl-like wait until Saturday’s Game 1, mostly because his spurning of Boston to play in Pittsburgh is most fresh in our memories. There is no Penguins player that Savard’s teammates would have more satisfaction in denying a trip to the Stanley Cup final than Cooke.

"My wife and I do a great job of conveying to our kids what's going on," Cooke told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "People see something that happens on the ice and react to it. It has nothing to do with who I am as a person, as a dad and as someone who tries to do good work in the community. It's interesting to me that we're able to express that to kids 9 and 12 and they get it better than grown people on the outside."

Maybe. And just maybe Cooke truly is a changed man.

Talk about your manufactured story lines.

It’s Tuesday. There won’t be hockey in Boston for more than another week.

In related news, the Red Sox will play seven times in three different cities before there is once again hockey played in Boston.

From a physical standpoint, the news that the Bruins and Penguins possibly won’t kick off the Eastern Conference final until Saturday in Pittsburgh comes as a welcome development. That’s four more days for the likes of Tuukka Rask, Zdeno Chara, and Patrice Bergeron, who will go mano a mano against Sidney Crosby in the faceoff circle a full week after the Bruins dispatched the Rangers.

Saturday is June 1, by the way.

Of course, that’s also four more days for hockey rust to settle in for the likes of David Krejci, Rask, and Torey Krug, who you hope doesn’t suddenly realize by Saturday that he’s not supposed to be doing this. Four more days of rejuvenation for the potent Pittsburgh attack, scoring 4.27 goals per game during these NHL playoffs. (The Bruins are second – 3.17.)

For us? Holy hell, four more days?

The NHL has yet to officially release the schedule for the Eastern Conference final, but Hockey Night in Canada reported last night that the series will begin Saturday, in part thanks to Chicago’s comeback win against Detroit in Game 6 Monday night. Those two teams will play a Game 7 Wednesday night in Chicago, while the Sharks and Kings go the distance in Tuesday in Los Angeles. Theoretically, if the NHL waited for both Western Conference series to end before giving the green light to Boston and Pittsburgh, the Bruins and Penguins could have started on Thursday at the earliest.

So, why not? Thank Danny Wood.

A Thursday-Saturday schedule in Pittsburgh would have had the Bruins and Penguins playing Games 3 and 4 in Boston next Monday-Wednesday. But that can’t happen because the New Kids on the Block are playing a pair of shows at the TD Garden next Sunday and Monday. Therefore, if the two teams started Thursday in Pittsburgh, there would be two off-days in between Games 2 and 3. Doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but it’s likely the teams, league, television, and fans would probably rather wait the extra two days to start rather than endure a two-day break after some level of momentum has kicked in.

If the league sticks to an off-night in between each game, the series will go until June 13 if it were to go seven games. The Bruins beat the Canucks in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final in 2011 on June 15.

You’ll recall the NHL had similar trouble scheduling the Bruins-Lightning final that same year both because of the ongoing Celtics-Heat playoff series, and the St. Pete Times Forum had Toy Story on Ice booked for a stretch during the series. If the Bruins had home-ice this year, odds are the series would begin on Thursday as it would avoid any conflict with the New Kids, and Game 7 would potentially land on June 11, the day before the Rolling Stones are scheduled to play at the Garden for the first of two nights.

And so, Saturday it is; four more days of rest for the particulars, four more days of anticipated torture for the rest of us.

When’s Buchholz pitching anyway?

Bring on Jarome.

Not to look too far ahead, what with Game 4 to be played at Madison Square Garden tonight, and the Senators still hanging by a thread in their own Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Penguins, but the scenario is too delicious not to envision, if not also find intimidation in it.

If the Bruins and Penguins do indeed face off in the Eastern Conference final, it will be the first time since Boston and Pittsburgh met in the playoffs since the 1992 Wales Conference final. The last time the Bruins beat the Penguins in the postseason, you have to go all the way back to 1980.

More recently, the Bruins were 0-3 against the Penguins during the regular season, each game tightly contested and increasingly frustrating for Boston. Pittsburgh certainly presents the bumpier road to the Stanley Cup, but isn’t it the tantalizing matchup that we all want?

Jarome Iginla scored twice Wednesday night as the Penguins went on to rout the Senators, 7-3, to take a 3-1 series lead. Pittsburgh can wrap things up Friday night at home, while the Bruins can finish off a sweep of the New York Rangers Thursday night. The Bruins went 4-1 against the Senators, but they were also 3-1 against the Maple Leafs, and we saw how that translated to a seven-game series. Winless against the Penguins? No worries.

In Pittsburgh-Boston, we’d get the postseason storyline for which everybody pined with some added spice suddenly added to the mixture. It was at the end of March, after all, when Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli had a deal in place with the Calgary for Iginla, the Flames’ franchise player whose no-movement clause included a handful of teams he could be dealt to, including the Bruins. The package the Bruins were sending to Calgary included Matt Bartkowski, Alexander Khokhlachev and a first-round draft pick. Instead, Iginla told the Flames he preferred Pittsburgh, and Calgary was left having to accept a lesser package in order to bow to the wishes of Iginla, making the Bruins look like the ugly bride left at the altar.

Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t…yeah, yeah, you know. But Iginla has undoubtedly been a force for the powerful Pittsburgh attack this postseason with four goals and eight assists. His 12 points (eight more than “Plan B” Jaromir Jagr) are fifth in the NHL behind only, oh, teammates Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin, and Sidney Crosby, who is two points behind leading playoff point leader David Krejci. Meanwhile, Bartkowski has been a pleasant steadying force on the Bruins’ decimated blueline squad along with Dougie Hamilton and Torey Krug, who have given Claude Julien the benefit of further resting Wade Redden and Dennis Seidenberg, and even wondering if he’ll even need the services of the former when he’s ready to return.

But at the center of everything is Iginla, the player who spurned the Bruins to play with the star-driven Penguins. The thought of denying him the chance to play for the Cup would have to cross the minds of more than one Bruin, and especially Chiarelli, who looked like Dawn of the Living Dead in the hours after learning Iginla would rather play somewhere else. Egg, meet face.

For now though, the Bruins’ focus can only be on Game 4 and the Rangers. Then they can hope that Ottawa can extend its series against Pittsburgh. If the Bruins sweep New York, and Ottawa can push things to seven, Boston would have at least six days off before the Eastern Conference final. That’s six more days for Redden, Seidenberg, and Andrew Ference; six more days rest for Tuukka Rask.

Then again, the kind of anticipation Bruins-Penguins would bring is likely better bottled up in small doses. So, shall we meet over the long weekend, then?

Do the Rangers really want to come back to Boston anyway? Do us all a favor. There’s little more to be said about this series, and a whole lot potentially to discuss in the matchup that we, deep down, all want.

Not happening.

The Bruins are 17-1 all-time when leading a playoff series 3-0. Of course, when down 0-3 in a playoff series, the rest of the teams in the NHL have come back only once from such a deficit since 1976.

Twice? Please.

The Boston Bruins may or may not indeed – it’s OK to say it – s-s-s-sweep the New York Rangers, come Thursday night in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series, but whether or not they finish off John Tortorella’s overmatched crew in four, five, or six is a debate past expiration. The Bruins have dominated the Rangers to such a degree in this series, including most notably Tuesday night’s 2-1 victory, that it’s natural to wonder where the line should be drawn at the point where the Bruins have proved superior or the Rangers have simply quit.

It must upset Pierre McGuire greatly to summon such a thought, but the Rangers look like a defeated squad in tune with its fate, even with the series only 2-0 heading back to New York Tuesday. The Bruins have worn New York’s anemic attack down to the point where it has almost become a caricature of itself, with NBC ice-side reporter McGuire ranting about “freelancing” in an odd show of emotion during a fruitless Rangers power play.

Now, down 3-0 to the Bruins, a team that was 10 minutes away from an early summer vacation and a franchise overhaul just a little more than a week ago, the Rangers can only look to the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers for inspiration. If they want it.

These Rangers don’t seem so inclined.

New York fans can point to Henrik Lundqvist for Example No. 1 as to why their team hasn’t completely thrown in the towel. Lundqvist (32 saves) was dynamite – did his NBC Fan Club get that through to you? – in Game 3’s losing effort following so-so and worrisome performances in Games 1 and 2 in Boston. The way the national announcers would have you believe, Ryan Callahan leads the NHL in points this postseason based on the incessant laurels tossed in his direction. He has two goals and two assists through 10 games. Derick Brassard, whom the Rangers picked up in the greatest New York coup since Babe Ruth – at least according to NBC – has just one assist in this series and still leads his team in playoff points with 10. Rick Nash should scare the Bruins every time he touches the ice. The only people he’s instilling fright into are the people paying his salary.

“Brassard had an outstanding opening round against the Capitals in his first NHL playoff experience, but hasn’t delivered against Boston,” the New York Post’s Larry “Brooksie” Brooks writes in the wake of Game 3. “Callahan is relentless, but is hardly having a standout playoff. Derek Stepan has been negated. Ryan McDonagh has been good, but not a difference-maker.

“Lundqvist has been the only difference-maker and even he hasn’t been able to make a difference. As far as the Blueshirts and creating legacies are concerned, we’re still waiting.”

New York can keep waiting.

It's fair to wonder whether or not Tortorella, an entertaining sound bite, but maybe as it turns out, not such a great leader with his style of demeaning individuals, is soon to be out of a job. The holes that have been exposed in the Rangers indeed speak of a team whose attitude stems from turning off leadership. Give the Bruins this: As maddening as they can be to watch play at times, you never get the sense that they don't have faith in what Claude Julien preaches. And though we'll likely call for his head again at some point, his success rate has gotten to the point where we have to call him one of the best Bruins bosses of this generation.

Unless Boston loses David Krejci to injury once again, and New York gains the services of the likes of Simon Gagne, another 3-0 comeback isn’t happening. For the fourth time in five postseasons, the Bruins are one win away from the Eastern Conference finals, likely to be a showdown with the Pittsburgh Penguins. For the second time in four postseasons, they’ll get there, whether it takes four, five, or six games.

If it potentially takes seven, well, then we’ll talk. But that’s not going to happen. Not with these Rangers, clearly overwhelmed and about to roll over in defeat.

It’s May, right?

Judging both by the laissez-faire din of the crowd at the TD Garden Thursday night and the droll Ned Martin approach of NBC Sports Network’s Dave Strader on play-by-play, you couldn’t help but compare the atmosphere at Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Bruins and Rangers to your average February tilt against the Blue Jackets. It’s the second time in three playoff games that some have complained of a less-than-boisterous fan base, likely lulled to sleep Thursday night after a first period that played like a “No, I love you more” spat between a couple.

For the second straight game, the Bruins took an overtime win when Brad Marchand took a sweet dish from Game 7 hero Patrice Bergeron and scored on Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist for a 3-2 win and a 1-0 series lead. For the second straight game, the Garden erupted in celebratory glee. Just over 72 hours earlier, the same seats were emptying in surrender with the Bruins down to the Maple Leafs, 4-1, and only 10 minutes remaining in their season. New life emerged Thursday, a second chance at moving on in the quest for the Stanley Cup.

In the end, the Bruins and Rangers delivered compelling drama in a game that most would argue the Bruins dominated, with enough posts hit on the evening to compose a commercial jingle. Lundqvist wasn’t at his best, allowing Zdeno’s Chara’s second-period slap shot to trickle past the goal line, and called out his teammates for failing in the extra frame. ("Have I played bad in overtime? No. Can I score? No. Is it frustrating? Yes.") Torey Krug, Matt Bartkowski, and Dougie Hamilton gave fresh, young legs that clearly invigorated the Bruins, the direct opposite of what the Bruins got out of Jaromir Jagr, the 41-year-old legend who is clearly out of sync when he isn’t out of gas.

Maybe that was the case in the crowd as well, particularly in the wake of Monday’s epic comeback against the Leafs. Game 5 against Toronto can be excused in some part that it was a Friday night game with a CEO crowd. And it’s not as if the Bruins and Rangers gave them anything to rock the roof off with to kick things off in Game 1. If we learned anything though, it’s that the Bruins should be able to win this series more handily than we may have initially thought. The Rangers’ power play makes Boston’s look dominant, which it bordered on Thursday with one goal and an impressive barrage in overtime. Yes, the Rangers block shots as advertised (how do you think Dan Girardi feels today) and Lundqvist probably just had an off-night coming off back-to-back shutouts against the Capitals. But the Bruins were better. Much better.

And the crowd should be too on Sunday. Now that the band is starting to play the way we know they’re capable of, perhaps there will be less Mr. Hyde and frustration over which team takes the ice on any given night. No Game 7 hangover to speak of.

‘‘I really thought our guys turned the page on that historical game,’’ coach Claude Julien said. ‘‘At the same time, they wanted to take what was necessary to start the series, and that was momentum, the good feeling that we have from that game.’’

Will there be a Game 1 hangover? Game 2? Perhaps the inconsistencies that plague this team will come back to haunt them, but on night 1, it was indeed a more concerted effort against the Rangers. For one game.

Until Sunday then. May 19. The Bruins may be starting to act like they know what time of year it is. Let’s the rest of us follow suit, shall we?

Oh, Brooksie. Not that John Tortorella needs any introduction, but for those Bruins fans who may be arriving late to the party, let's just say you're in for an entertaining run here with the Rangers' coach, whose postgame press conferences have become the stuff of legend in the hockey world. Whether it's his heated exchanges with New York Post writer Larry Brooks (who fancies himself "funny"), or his chastising a beat reporter for asking him an open question, the Boston native is a mixture of Bill Belichick with a dash of Lee Elia for added spice.

 

Here's Tortorella's press conference following Sunday's 1-0 win over the Capitals in Game 6. It's a classic on par with the best of them. I wish I could end all my meetings like this.
 


It's a rule, dummy.
 

No, he's not talking about the Sedins, rather Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins' "two $#%^& stars."
 

I don't want to coach his team, but just shut up.
 

More Brooksie.
 

Here's a particularly lengthy Tortorella press conference.
 

Here's an even lengthier one.
 

No stupid questions!!
 

Tortorella on Joe Thornton. Big fan.
 

Sure, it's be easier if the Bruins can wrap this up in four, but please let it go seven.

“We make it tough on ourselves. We’ve always had trouble with that killer instinct.” – Claude Julien, Bruins head coach.

“They’re going to break the $#@*&^% window.” – Tony Amonte, Comcast SportsNet.

Let’s face it, Mr. Amonte may have been under different circumstances, attempting to deliver postgame reaction as hundreds of elated Bruins fans pounded on the Causeway Street studio glass behind him, but he wasn’t the only one to let the expletives fly during an evening that summoned a range of emotions.

Anticipation. Optimism. Frustration. Anger. Confusion. Hope. Jubilation. Shock. Beer.

The Boston Bruins are inexplicably moving on to face the New York Rangers after Monday night’s ridiculous comeback against the Toronto Maple Leafs, a 5-4 overtime win that will go down among the greatest games in Boston history, and serve as the ultimate reminder of just how damned heart-stopping and frustrating this crew can be.

Why? Why must it always come to this? Under Claude Julien, the Bruins have defined themselves as the ultimate do-or-die situational franchise. They play careful. They play cute. They play with a sense of purpose that frustrates the opposition, not to mention a fan base that has its share of potential scapegoats to blame when things ultimately end in heartache.

Then, when it matters most, these Bruins, they deliver.

The Bruins had scored three goals over their last eight periods against the Leafs before their trio in 10 minutes Monday night, tying the game at four, and putting the stake into the hearts of Toronto fans, only to twist it into the wound when Patrice Bergeron scored the game-winner at 6:05 into overtime. The resurgence came out of nowhere, particularly for a Bruins team that had, at one point during the evening, fewer shots than the drink menu at teddy bear tea time. Unless the smelling salt delivery truck simply can not arrive prior to 9 p.m., why can’t urgency show its face to some degree at some point before 9:18 into the third period?

Why?

Much like the Celtics’ valiant comeback against the Knicks in Game 6 a little over a week ago, the Bruins’ effort in Game 7 indeed displayed the determination and grit that makes a champion, never counting themselves out despite the hurdle in front of them. Unlike the Celtics, the Bruins completed the task. We’re only left wondering what might have been had the Celtics actually showed to be any semblance of a professional basketball team for three quarters.

The Bruins save their best for Game 7. They save it for the third period, and for 19:09 into the final stanza. They are all heart and a heart attack waiting to happen.

"It was a fun ending,” Bergeron said.

It certainly was, and it was the latest display of just how good this team can be when it decides to wake up. For much of the night, Tuukka Rask was pedestrian, but when it mattered most, the goalie was huge. Bergeron, roasted during an afternoon sports talk drive show Monday for not being able to score, emerges from his underperforming linemates to score the equalizer and the game-winner. Claude doesn’t have to call his local realtor.

Over the span of 10 game minutes, the Bruins went from potentially cleaning house to cleaning their skates for another round. Julien and Peter Chiarelli are safe, it is the Maple Leafs asking all the questions today, and the thought of Toronto revisiting trade talks with Vancouver for Roberto Luongo is salivating. Ten minutes changed the courses of two franchises, one in the peak prime of its roster members, the other, a young collection on the rise. That doesn’t make the collapse any more comforting for Leafs fans. Red Sox fans know all too well.

In Boston, perhaps we should treat Monday’s win a little like Lou Brown’s message to Willie Mays Hayes in “Major League,” after the young outfielder made a basket catch: “Nice catch, Hayes. Don’t ever $#@*&^% do it again.”

It was a fun ending. Getting there though required all sorts of stamina, desire, and faith. It’s never easy with the Bruins, we know that by now. But at least they show us that they can finish the job, and not simply inflict too little, too late.

Just enough, always late. But you know, a lead isn’t a bad thing to play with, fellas.

"It feels real good right now [but] when you're looking at the clock wind down with how the period went at 4-1, you start thinking to yourself 'is this the end of this group right here?'” Milan Lucic said. “Because it probably would have been if we didn't win this game. You gotta have bounces, you gotta have luck, you gotta have everything go your way and that's what happened in the last 10 minutes of the third period."

That’s what happened, all right. Holy $#*&.

On the bright side, it looks like Dallas may only be getting a second-round pick for Jaromir Jagr.

The conditional draft choice becomes a first-rounder should the Bruins advance to the Eastern Conference final, but suddenly, and perhaps expectedly, that prospect has become the well of water on the desert horizon. Here we are. Seven. Again.

The Bruins are forced to host the Maple Leafs in Game 7 Monday night thanks to their inability to show any spark of life for five of the six periods they’ve played since Friday night. Only in the third period of Game 5 at a lifeless Garden did the Bruins show some spark, an energy that hoped to translate into Game 6 Sunday night in Toronto. Instead, the Bruins became the team we became accustomed to during the stretch run of the regular season; a plodding, indecisive offensive enigma, now with its back to the wall for an eighth time under head coach Claude Julien.

The Bruins are 3-4 in the Julien era in Game 7’s, all three wins coming during the Cup run in 2011. The four losses include last year’s oust at the hands of the Capitals, 2009’s loss to the Hurricanes, 2008’s disappointment against the Canadiens, and, of course, the series which most resembles this current state of affairs, 2010’s epic 3-0 collapse against the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Red Sox overcame deficits of 0-3 and 1-3 during both their World Series runs of 2004 and ’07, respectively. Can the Bruins perform the same trend in reverse over the same stretch of three years?

Julien may have his name etched on Lord Stanley’s Cup, but his presence on it is likely the only thing saving his job. Eight game sevens in six years might be a sign that you’re team is in the playoffs consistently. It might even serve as a sign that your team is good enough to force the opposition to the brink. With Julien’s Bruins, it serves as the ultimate reminder that this team refuses to finish off opponents until there’s no more wiggle room remaining. And even then, the Bruins have only been successful 43 percent of the time. All in 2011. All with Tim Thomas in net.

Without Thomas, the Bruins are 0-4 in Game 7’s under Julien, and Rask is 0-1 despite the 3-0 lead his teammates awarded him against the Flyers three years ago. Something about too many men as well.

If the Bruins lose Game 7 against the lesser Leafs, Julien will indeed be at the forefront of fan criticism. Chants of “Fire Claude” will sprinkle from the nosebleeds and filter online message boards with a fervency not seen since…well, last week.

Julien’s stubbornness in how he approaches each game may be one of his best qualities in that it speaks to the faith he has in certain aspects and pairings on his roster. It’s also his ultimate undoing. Patrice Bergeron, Tyler Seguin, and Brad Marchand will trot out Monday night together as always despite the least production of any line this side of the DMV. Marchand has been lost, and Seguin a complete train wreck against Toronto, despite the trio’s success during the regular season. What’s the harm in mixing it up when it clearly is DOA? The less-than-desirable answer? Claude.

“I have no comments on my lines,” Julien said after Sunday’s 2-1 loss in Game 6 in Toronto. “I’m not talking about certain lines. I’m talking about our whole team as a Jekyll and Hyde hockey club. You see when we play well how good we can be. Tonight, poor puck management never gave us a chance to win. It’s as simple as that.”

Meh, not really. You could argue that the Bruins have managed to even show up for two of the six games in this series; Games 1 and 3, both wins for Boston. The Game 4 overtime win was a thrilling game, but it too showed off many of the Bruins’ deficiencies, and took a hat trick from David Krejci, and late mastery on the part of Rask to pull it out. Since Krejci’s overtime goal on Wednesday, the Bruins have played like they lost the team dog. The Maple Leafs have life, a resurgence the Bruins awarded them by failing to put them away, by confoundingly refusing to park themselves in front of James Reimer and sink the incessant rebounds bouncing off the Toronto netminder. Now, Reimer has a confidence the Bruins are more than familiar with, instilling a similar sense in Braden Holtby last spring against Washington. Outside of the Bruins’ top line, Boston is terrible offensively, a trait that has probably reached its nadir under Julien-led squads. The call for a more offensive-minded coach to take over behind the bench isn’t a crazy thought.

Then again, remember, some thought Julien should lose his job in the waning days of the 2010-11 regular season. Many questioned whether he was right for the job, and whether Thomas was simply a nice story in sheep’s clothing as the Bruins faced the Canadiens in a deciding Game 7 two years ago. If the Bruins lost that overtime decision, we’re not debating the future of Julien and general manager Peter Chiarelli. Both are already long gone, and the Bruins are still clamoring for their first Cup since 1972.

Game 7’s were kind to the Bruins in 2011. Otherwise, they’ve been a lost cause under Julien with at least one more on tap against the Leafs Monday. If they lose, it will be Claude on the hot seat, and realistically, for the first time in years of fan frustration, it may be time for the Bruins to feel it’s best to part ways.

Has it really reached that point? For all the good Julien has done for this franchise, his approach can only do so much good. Unfortunately, he can’t bottle the magic from 2011, and even if he could, the pixie dust from that run is somewhere in Colorado preparing for the Olympics in Sochi. The last time a Bruins team without Thomas in net won a Game 7 was in 1994 against the Canadiens. It's up to Rask for a second time. It's up to Julien for an eighth.

One more time Monday. Game 7. We’re used to this by now, and unfortunately, more often than not, know exactly how it plays out. Winning hides the problems. Losing creates a host more of them.