Up 3-1, Julien says Bruins aren't under pressure

Up 3-1, Julien says Bruins aren't under pressureBruins coach Claude Julien dismissed the notion Boston is the team under pressure heading into Monday night's Game 5.

BOSTON -- Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien doesn't believe there's any more pressure on his club than there is on the Philadelphia Flyers for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals Monday (7 p.m. ET, TSN2, CSN-PH, NESN).

Julien, in fact, sounded a bit perturbed by the notion there's more pressure on his team holding a 3-1 series lead to seal the deal.

"If people can't handle pressure and they want to dish it out on others, that's fine, because we don't really need that (to get motivated)," Julien said. "We put pressure on ourselves to win every game. When you handle pressure the right way, it's a great thing. If you can't handle it the right way, it becomes a bit of a burden and sometimes you try and hand it out to others."

When asked if he felt the Flyers were right in saying the pressure is all on the Bruins at this points, defenseman Johnny Boychuk was adamant in his response.

"No," he said. "We got pressure to close it out and they got pressure to keep their season alive so it's both ways."

Still the Flyers stood firm in their assessment of pressure when questioned about the topic.

"The pressure is completely over on their side of the rink," Flyers forward Blair Betts said. "We should be really loose and at the same time, confident. We'll try and control our emotions tonight. We're a desperate hockey club and we don't feel like the series is over by any stretch. It's a matter of winning tonight."

"Yeah, we want to win and try to finish it off (Monday), but there's pressure on them; they lose, their season is finished," Wideman said. "There's pressure both ways and there's pressure in all playoff games no matter what the series is -- you never want to lose."

The Bruins will most likely field a similar lineup to the one that began Friday's Game 4 in Philadelphia. Defenseman Mark Stuart skated at Monday's optional practice and Adam McQuaid (lower body) did not, so expect Stuart to be paired with Andrew Ference as the third pair along the blue line.

Julien said McQuaid, who is experiencing his first stint in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, is improving and would be available (to practice) within the "next day or two." McQuaid has no points and a minus-4 rating in nine postseason games this spring.

Bruins forwards Steve Begin, who has a goal and eight penalty minutes in 10 playoff games this season, doesn't feel there's any more pressure than any other game.

"It's a must win, but I don't feel any more pressure than there was prior to the third or fourth game," he said. "It's another game and we know their backs are against the wall. They want to play their game and win the game and go out and give everything they got, like we do. But the main thing is to play our game. I don't think we'll be in trouble."

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I don't have a crystal ball. Predicting is a real complicated thing. If we stay healthy, have enough depth and get the good goaltending we think we're going to have, you can go all the way. But a lot of things have to happen. There's going to be a lot of teams that think the same thing. Everyone made deals. We're all are optimistic about where we'll end up.

— Rangers general manager Glen Sather after being asked if he's constructed a team that can win the Stanley Cup before their 4-1 win against the Predators on Monday