Full Cup - Bruins romp again at Garden to force Game 7

There will be one more flight west. One more night in a Vancouver hotel. One more game. Had the Bruins dropped Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Canucks last night at TD Garden, tomorrow probably would have been breakup day. For the final time this season, the Bruins would have gathered at their home rink, packed up their items, held exit interviews, and said their goodbyes. Instead, they will be pursuing the greatest trophy in sports in the grandest spectacle of them all: Game 7. “Not too many people

counted on us being here right now,’’ Mark Recchi said after last night’s 5-2 win before 17,565. “It’s a great feeling. We battled real hard tonight. We came to play. It comes down to one game. This is what we dream of. When you’re a little kid playing street hockey, you’re in Game 7. We’re going to go out there. We’re going to lay it on the line just like they are. It’s going to be a pretty exciting game. We’ve got to go find a way to win a game and win a Stanley Cup. We’re going to do whatever we can.’’ The champagne that was on ice for the Canucks last night is only an afterthought. The Cup that was in place for the Canucks to hoist must now travel west to accompany both teams. Last night, only one club could have claimed the Cup as its own. Tomorrow, because the Bruins did something good last night, they can do something great. The day started with focus. The Bruins didn’t think about their season coming to a close. In the home dressing room, there was a quiet confidence as the Bruins tried to bundle their collective energy toward a single goal: living to see another day. “It was very quiet in here,’’ said the usually chirpy Brad Marchand. “It was tough to figure out if it was nerves or just guys being calm and focused. It seemed like everyone was very prepared and very excited to get underway.’’ After warmups, the calm was gone. As the Bruins bosses had hoped, the mood rose another level while the players prepared for battle. The Bruins weren’t afraid of what was ahead of them. Instead, they couldn’t wait to get their job started. So, what was quiet and poise ramped up to energy. “Excitement, that’s for sure,’’ Michael Ryder said. “We were all pumped up. We knew that we had to come out hard, especially early in the game. I think it was pretty intense in here. Everyone was jumping around, getting ready to go. We knew what it meant. We knew the fans would be behind us. We wanted to make sure we set the tone early and got the fans into it.’’ Soon after the Bruins hit the ice, all that buildup, tension, and excitement exploded into a four-goal supernova. Marchand snapped a shot over Roberto Luongo. Milan Lucic hit a shot that dribbled between Luongo’s pads and rolled over the goal line. Nathan Horton, his season over because of a concussion suffered in Game 3, stood in the Zamboni entrance during a television timeout at 7:27. With a smile across his face and rally towels waving in both hands, Horton gave the Garden even more juice. “We didn’t know they were going to be doing that, showing him up there,’’ Marchand said. “For him to come in and give us that boost of energy is unbelievable. Obviously, the crowd loves it, loves him, and they’re supporting him every minute of the day. It was great to see him out there. He gave us a big energy boost.’’ That was nothing. At 8:35, with Recchi setting a screen in front, Andrew Ference ripped a slapper that sailed past Luongo to give the Bruins a 3-0 lead. During the Final, Luongo has had more ups and downs than a yo-yo. He has posted two shutouts at home, allowing just two goals in three games at Rogers Arena. But at the Garden, Luongo fished eight pucks out of his net in Game 3. He was pulled after giving up four goals in Game 4. Last night, after three pucks went past him — one of the dribbling manner — in less than nine minutes, Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault had seen enough. Just moments after Ference’s shot hit the back of the net, Luongo was skating toward the visiting bench for the second time in his last two visits to the Garden. Then, after relief netminder Cory Schneider had been in goal for only 70 seconds, Ryder tipped a Ference shot into the net to give the Bruins a 4-0 lead. “We needed to come out hard tonight,’’ said Bruins coach Claude Julien. “I thought our guys responded. We needed to come out hard the last two games before that, because we were trailing, 2-0, in the series. Our guys have responded well. Now we have to make sure we don’t get comfortable with our game. We’re willing to bring it to Vancouver with us, because that’s what it’s going to take to win.’’ Unlike their two previous stops in Boston, the Canucks pushed back. Henrik Sedin made it 4-1 at 0:22 of the third. Jannik Hansen thought he had trimmed Boston’s lead to two at 3:17 of the third, but video replay showed his shot hit the left post. But Boston’s cushion was too large. And now it’s come down to this. Next win is for the Cup. “There’s no pressure,’’ Recchi said. “Go play. Go out and have fun with this. It’s what you play for and what we’ve worked hard for all year. We’re going to have a blast doing it.’’

O’Neal’s return makes big difference

Shaquille O’Neal was active for a Celtics game for just the second time since Feb. 1, giving Boston a huge post presence and perhaps altering this Eastern Conference semifinal series. He scored 2 points in 8 minutes 29 seconds in the Celtics’ 97-81 victory over the Heat in Game 3 last night at TD Garden.

“I thought Shaq had a big impact in the second half, just his presence,’’ coach Doc Rivers said. “He came out of the game healthy.’’

O’Neal had practiced the past two days and participated in the team’s shootaround yesterday morning in Waltham. He came off the bench last night.

O’Neal was still walking with a limp because of his sore right Achilles’ tendon and foot. After workouts, Rivers said the veteran center made great progress over the past few weeks.

O’Neal was expected to return during the first-round series with the Knicks, but his recovery has been slow.

“With him, it will just be the eye test and whatever you think he can handle,’’ Rivers said before Game 3. “He looked good this morning and [Friday] he had a good practice.

“Obviously Shaq can’t do things that he could do 15 years ago. But when he comes in and fills a role for this team, he’s been terrific for us.’’

O’Neal gave the Celtics a much-needed post presence, a much-needed rebounder, and another inside scorer. When he has been healthy with the Celtics, he has been stellar. But he had made one game appearance in more than three months, and that was a five-minute stint during which he injured his right calf.

“It’s more just the power and the force that he can bring that will help us,’’ Rivers said. “He can do that in some ways offensively. And defensively, it’s no fun to drive against Shaq. Our guys learned that in practice.’’

Jermaine O’Neal remained the starting center while Shaquille O’Neal replaced Nenad Krstic as the first center off the bench.

Winning attitude The Heat have not won at TD Garden since April 6, 2007, when Shaquille O’Neal (22 points, 13 rebounds) led a Dwyane Wade-less club to an 88-85 win. Ryan Gomes led the Paul Pierce-less Celtics with 24 points. Who knew a few months later, the course of the Celtics’ franchise would change, and the current Big Three would run off 10 straight home wins over Miami (including postseason)?

Wade, who wasn’t part of that last Miami victory because of a dislocated left shoulder, said he realized how difficult a venue the Garden has been for the past four years.

“We’ve lost a lot of close games in this building,’’ Wade said after his team’s shootaround. “We’ve got to get over the hump. It’s playoff basketball. Obviously we’re a different team. We’ve got to come out on the court and we have to do it. We have to take all the punches they throw at us for 48 minutes and still be there standing at the end.’’

The Heat have a 87-57 edge in attempts from the free throw line in the series. The Celtics acknowledged that getting to the line has been the main issue in the series, especially when Wade scored 7 points in that pivotal fourth quarter of Game 2, all from the free throw line. Chris Bosh attempted 11 free throws in Game 2, 11 more than Kevin Garnett.

“Our game is, we’re attackers,’’ Wade said. “Myself and LeBron are two of the most attack players in the league when it comes to getting points in the paint, putting pressure on the defense. We’re not necessarily going in there and looking for fouls. We’ve been able to go in hard and get put on the line. Whatever the game calls for, we have the team to be able to do it.’’

The Celtics were fully aware that Miami scored 26 percent of its points in the first two games from the line and of Wade’s 66 points in the series, 19 are from the line.

“It better be [a way to keep them off the line],’’ Rivers said. “If you split [James and Wade’s] shots in half so far, it’s 60 shots — 30 of their makes have been from their greatness, the other 30 have been from our ability not to follow our game plan. We have to limit those 30.’’

Hot Hill Celtics assistant Armond Hill makes sure to keep a low profile, but he showed another side when he learned that a reporter Tweeted a Celtics strategy he wrote on the grease board before the game.

Hill was informed of the Tweet and quieted the locker room with his voice, warning reporters not to Tweet or write down any of the Celtics’ plans during their interview sessions in the locker room. As the media surrounded Ray Allen for a pregame interview, a still-angry Hill stood in front of the grease board, and later continued writing the game plan.

Not yet Although he was draining jumper after jumper during shootaround, Udonis Haslem is not quite ready to return from a right foot injury that has cost him five months. Haslem, who tore a ligament in the foot in November, is close to returning, according to Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, but the team is being cautious . . . To make room for O’Neal on the active roster, the Celtics put Carlos Arroyo on the inactive list. He has yet to make an appearance in the postseason. The other inactives were Avery Bradley and Sasha Pavlovic.