The Boston Bruins have played four games on May 18 in their history, and three of them were in the Stanley Cup Final.
The first one came in 1978 against the rival Montreal Canadiens. After losing the first two matchups of the series to the Canadiens in Montreal, the Bruins returned home to the old Boston Garden for Game 3. The Bruins scored twice in the first period and third period, including goals from Rick Middleton and Terry O'Reilly, to earn a 4-0 victory. The B's won Game 4 in overtime but lost the next two matchups as the Canadiens won their third consecutive Stanley Cup title.
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The second Stanley Cup Final game played by the Bruins on May 18 was against the Edmonton Oilers in 1988. It was the series opener, and Oilers superstar Wayne Gretzky opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the second period. Cam Neely equalized for the Bruins later in the period, but Keith Acton's third-period tally proved to be the winner as Edmonton escaped with a 2-1 win. The Oilers went on to sweep the series at home after Game 4 in Boston was unable to be completed due to a power failure at Boston Garden.
The third Stanley Cup Final game the Bruins have played on May 18 was again versus the Oilers two years later. The Bruins had just lost Game 1 of the series in triple overtime when Oilers forward Petr Klima scored the winning goal in the longest Cup Final matchup in league history. The Bruins were determined to even the series and take back the momentum, but the Oilers dominated in a 7-2 victory, led by a hat trick from Jari Kurri. Boston did win Game 3, but Edmonton won the next two matchups to clinch their fifth Stanley Cup title in seven years.
The other Bruins game played on this date was Game 6 of the 1999 Eastern Conference semifinals, where Boston was eliminated by the Buffalo Sabres with a 4-2 loss on the road. The Bruins did not appear in another Stanley Cup Playoff game until 2002.