Shawn Thornton

Bruins forward Shawn Thornton checked in with Dennis & Callahan on Wednesday morning to talk about the Stanley Cup playoffs, including the upcoming series against the Rangers.

The Bruins pulled off a miraculous comeback against the Maple Leafs in Game 7 on Monday night, while the Rangers routed the Capitals in their Game 7 the same evening. Thornton said neither team will get an advantage from the way the previous series ended.

“It’s a whole new series,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what happened a few days ago. You clear the slate and off you go. … For us, that was a pretty emotional overtime, obviously, and an emotional comeback. We almost have to forget about that and get started on this new one.”

Thornton missed an open net toward the end of the last game when his shot from 10 feet in front went over the goal, apparently after deflecting off the mask of Toronto goalie James Reimer, who had been prone on the ice. Thornton returned to the bench and slammed down his stick.

“I wasn’t happy,” Thornton said. “I put it where I wanted to. I didn’t know he was going to be able to get his head up that high. I was going for the top of the net. I still didn’t see what it hit. People are telling me I hit him in the mask. I was ready to put my hands up; I thought it was in. Then I didn’t see the red light go on. I wasn’t very happy, that’s for sure.

“Almost, almost. That’s kind of my life story scoring goals. A lot of almosts.”

The Bruins have been plagued by inconsistency, something that continued from the latter part of the regular season into the playoffs.

“I don’t have an answer. We should be ready to go every night,” Thornton said. “It just seems like we have a little bit of success, then we deviate from the plan a little bit, shoot ourselves in the foot, and then we have to crawl our way back out of it again. We have been crawling out of it, but you can only do that for so long. I’m sure that will be addressed. We’ve got to get back to just playing the way we want to play.

“That being said, though, other teams are trying, too. It’s not we can go out there and dominate 20 minutes. They’re fighting for their lives the whole time. Toronto’s a lot better team than a lot of people gave them credit for. Yes, we haven’t played to the best of our ability at all times every night, but you’re not going to dominate a game in the playoffs for 60 minutes. It just doesn’t happen.”

Touching on the prospects of this being a physical series, Thornton indicated he’s ready for whatever comes his way.

“They say that for every playoff series before it starts,” Thornton said. “It should be physical. It’s the playoffs. They said that about the Leafs. They said that when we played Montreal a couple of years ago, and they didn’t have too many guys that were over 5-9.

“It’s the playoffs, it’s going to be physical. Do we like that? Yeah, we should. We should be physical, they should be physical. We’re fighting for our lives every night. That’s what makes the NHL playoffs so great.”

To hear the interview, go the Dennis & Callahan audio on demand page. For more Bruins news, visit the team page at weei.com/bruins.

Adam McQuaid

Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid was named a finalist for the Bill Masterton Trophy, which is awarded to “the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.” The other finalists are Penguins center Sidney Crosby and Wild goalie Josh Harding.

McQuaid had to overcome a scary situation during the lockout, as Thoracic Outlet Syndrome caused blood clots to form that made his right arm swell significantly in September. He needed surgery for it, but because it was during the lockout he could not do it with the guidance of the Bruins. He ended up gaining back the weight that he lost and played in 32 regular-season games for the Bruins.

McQuaid has also played in all seven playoff games for the B’s, which has been big considering the injuries they’ve dealt with on the back end.

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli offered no updates on the team’s injured defensemen Tuesday at TD Garden, though he did say that the Bruins will recall defenseman Torey Krug from Providence.

Wade Redden and Andrew Ference missed Game 7 against the Maple Leafs and Dennis Seidenberg didn’t play after the first two minutes due to an injury suffered on his first shift. Chiarelli gave no updates on any of the three players, though he said that Redden would not be able to play if the B’s were to have a game Tuesday. The Bruins will begin their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Rangers Thursday at TD Garden.

Krug is a left-shot defenseman, which will be a welcomed addition given that Seidenberg, Redden and Ference are all lefties. In 70 games for Providence this season (including the playoffs), Krug has 13 goals and 35 assists for 48 points this season.

For more on the Bruins, visit weei.com/bruins.