Can Bruins mount Round 1 comeback? What history tells us about Game 1 loss

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The Boston Bruins faced impressively little adversity during a 107-point regular season. The Toronto Maple Leafs changed that in a flash Thursday night.

The Leafs wrested home ice from the Bruins in their first-round series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a decisive 4-1 win at TD Garden.

The victory marked Toronto's first road win in a playoff series opener since 2003. It also marked serious trouble for the Bruins.

Or did it?

According to Boston Sports Info on Twitter, Boston has lost 23 Game 1s at home in its franchise history. Its record in those 23 series: 10-13.

That's not ideal, but it's also a pretty respectable win percentage (43.5 percent) considering how demoralizing a series-opening home loss can be. The Nashville Predators, for example, are 0-9 in their brief history when they drop Game 1.

The Bruins haven't squandered home ice in Game 1 since the 2014 Cup Playoffs, when a double overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens resulted in an eventual Game 7 loss at the Garden in the second round.

But before that? The B's had won three straight series after losing Game 1 at home:

1. The first round of the 2014 playoffs, where they rallied to win four straight against the Detroit Red Wings.

2. The first round of the 2011 playoffs, where Boston fell into an 0-2 hole to the Canadiens before winning in seven games.

3. The 2011 Eastern Conference Final, where the B's won their next three home games to advance in seven games en route to a Stanley Cup title.

Here's a full breakdown for inquiring minds:

Boston's core of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Krejci and Zdeno Chara were all on those teams, so they've been here before.

And considering NHL teams have won 42.2 percent of their playoff series after losing Game 1, there's still plenty of hope for the Bruins entering Game 2 on Saturday night -- assuming they take the Leafs more seriously this time.

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