MONTREAL – When it comes to a Game 7 situation, players often say they need to forget what happened in the first six games.

But in the case of Game 7 between the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins to be played in front of 21,273 nervous fans at the Bell Centre on Monday night, forgetting what’s gotten both teams to this point may not be the smartest course of action.

For the Bruins, why would you ever want to forget the dramatic victory on home ice in Game 6? For a team where the majority of the players have never tasted any NHL playoff action, that game was worth four or five in terms of experience in managing your emotions and maintaining your poise.

Will Phil Kessel be a better player in Game 6 if he forgets how he undressed Francis Bouillon before scoring Boston’s first goal of the game? Or should he forget what it felt like to be a healthy scratch for three games?
How about Marc Savard, who is an NHL veteran but a playoff rookie? Should he forget the elation of scoring an overtime winner in Game 3 when his team’s season was basically on the line, or the way he has six points in six games in the series?

Finally, there’s no way Tim Thomas wants to forget how he’s limited a Montreal Canadiens team that scored 24 times on him in six regular season games to only 10 goals in the past five games.

But for the Montreal Canadiens, the question of what they need to remember and want to forget is a little more delicate.

Captain Saku Koivu said at least three times during his chat with reporters Sunday that the Canadiens will have to control their emotions, but he also mentioned that his team needs to remember the good things it did to earn the top seed in the conference and the home ice advantage for Game 7.

“I don’t think going into Game 7 you feel extra pressure because you finished first in the conference,” Koivu said. “But I think there was a reason behind us finishing first and being 8-0 against (Boston) this season. That has to be our mindset going in… But the longer the series goes on, the less meaning the regular season has.”

In terms of what Montreal may want to forget, the last two games would probably top the list. But Bryan Smolinski, who has played in a team-high seven career Game 7’s (and lost five of them), doesn’t feel the Canadiens should suffer from total amnesia when they take the ice Monday night.

“I think you always have to remember,” he said. “You have to remember the good things and some of the things that didn’t go well, then apply it to the next game.”

Shades of 2004

Koivu often said Sunday that Montreal needs to forget what happened thus far in the series and focus on Game 7. He agrees with Smolinksi when it comes to tactical and technical details of previous games, but in terms of mental preparation, he feels it needs to be a clean slate.

“Obviously you need to remember things you did well and things you did wrong,” he said. “But I’m talking about the emotional aspect.”

Those emotions will be quite a handful Monday at the Bell Centre, which risks having its roof blown off by the crowd, and how both teams manage the initial adrenaline rush they are sure to feel will go a long way toward determining the outcome.

“It’s going to be crazy,” Koivu said. “It’s fun to be a part of those games.”

Who is favoured going into Game 7 is almost impossible to judge. The Canadiens have home ice and the last change, but they are clearly lacking in the momentum category.

The Bruins are still riding a wave of emotions that began in March with their push just to make the playoffs, and they should have a mental edge because of that. But it’s also possible that Boston will just run out of gas after flooring it for the better part of six weeks.

Adding to the difficulty in handicapping the game is that both teams have a historic advantage on their side.
The Canadiens have Alex Kovalev, who has played in five Game 7’s in his career and has never lost, scoring a goal with three assists in those games. He will need to be an impact player for the Habs to have any chance of winning.

For the Bruins, coach Claude Julien has already coached one of only 20 teams in NHL history to have successfully come back from a 3-1 deficit in the playoffs when he led Montreal past Boston in 2004.

Koivu played for Julien on that team, and when asked about it Sunday he smiled.

“We’ll just have to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said. “It’s pretty simple.”