(Photo Credit: Sports Illustrated)

By: Evan Michael | Follow me on Twitter @00EvanMichael

It “bears” the B’s could use a little history repeating these days.

So it’s rather fitting, perhaps even hockey karmic, that on this day in Bruins history, May 6th, 1988, captain Ray Bourque led the black-n’-gold to a thrilling 6-1 playoff victory over the New Jersey Devils.

And guess what game in the series it was? Good ole game number three. The same number the B’s are playing in today against the Carolina Hurricanes back home at TD Garden.

If history were to repeat itself today, then Boston would have a hopeful prognosis for the rest of this series against the ‘Canes — one in which they’ve truly looked caught in the eye of the storm so far.

That’s because Bourque’s heroics assisting on three second-period goals to tie a playoff record those thirty-four years ago sparked a series victory for the B’s in seven games, something the team believes it can still do (even if shorthanded without Hampus Lindholm) during this series.

Another similarity about the series: the B’s used both of their talented goaltenders (Andy Moog and Reggie Lemelin) to defeat the Devils. And they’ll need to now do the same versus the ‘Canes with Jeremy Swayman taking over in between the pipes for Linus Ullmark to start game three.

Will the Hockey Gods allow things to go the Bruins’ “Sway” in this game three so history could perhaps repeat itself for the series? One can only hope!

And there’s no better place, as then captain Ray Bourque and current captain Patrice Bergeron will tell you, than at “the Garden” (be it Boston or TD) to fire up a hockey crowd that loves making the most of a hopeful historical moment!