MONTREAL -- One of the biggest clichés in professional sports is the notion of the “elimination game.” It’s the last breath of life for any pro sports team, and it’s something undeniably steeped in reality. The degree of commitment it takes in the world of pro hockey to drive that final stake through the heart a staggered club is formidable, and it’s something the Bruins will have to show come game time Wednesday night.

“It’s a cliché, but the fourth one is really the toughest,” said Mark Recchi, who has both lived and died with hockey clubs in countless elimination games during a 20-year career in the NHL. “It can never get overused because it really is. (Our) guys are sharp and our guys are ready, and that’s a good sign. We know we still have a tough game ahead of us and we want to close it out. We don’t want to leave anything on the table.”

Anyone living in the Boston with a passion for sports should be well-versed in just how far an emotionally-charged team can go once that season’s mortality begins swinging in the balance. The Red Sox trailed memorably 3-0 in 2004 before shocking the baseball world -- and completely stunning the Yankees -- in a four-game surge that irrevocably changed the course of the franchise. The Black and Gold skaters themselves know just how much fight was left in the Bear when they found themselves down 3-1 to the Habs at this time a year ago.

The B’s eventually fell in that series, but they didn’t budge an inch and played with inspired desperation -- pushing the Canadiens so much in that first round matchup that it clearly affected them in the next round against Philadelphia.

In fairness, the numbers say that there’s only two instances in NHL history when a team down 3-0 has come back and taken a seven-game series -- the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and 1975 New York Islanders -- but the B’s skaters can’t hinge hopes of playoff life certainty on past statistics.

It’s highly debatable that this current Canadiens club -- full of unrestricted free agents with one eye already pointed toward free agency and a coach/GM that might just be looking for puck employment after this messy centennial year -- has the spirit to raise this hockey season from the dead.

But the Habs are certainly in “wounded animal” territory entering Wednesday night’s Game 4 at the Bell Centre. The Star Spangled Banner-hating crowds of Montreal will be in full froth again during the opening minutes of a potential elimination game, and are certain to rain down deafening cheers with each body check and Habs’ bid for the elusive score.

The sprinkling of Stanley Cup playoff veterans on Boston’s roster have seen this all before, but it doesn’t completely stem the emotions and adrenaline rising from the ice as a team struggles for its very life.

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This is what the Bruins have to face Wednesday night before slaying the Montreal beast one last time that tormented them so much last season. It’s also a rare opportunity to earn some much-needed rest before advancing to the next round -- an absolute must-have for any team harboring dreams of a Stanley Cup championship. Rare is the Stanley Cup champ that can battle in seven-game series upon seven-game series in four straight rounds en route to capturing the Cup. 

“Everything comes at you,” said Aaron Ward when asked about his experience with elimination games. “It’s the competitive nature of athletes that when you’re on the brink of elimination. You’re going to get the best out of them. No matter what. We were there last year in Game 7. I’ve been in so many elimination games that the team on the brink of elimination brings everything. You have to do what we did during the first period of (Game 3): endure, understand and counteract what they’re doing.”

So what does it take to finally take down a Habs team, complete the sweep and set your sights on the next round of playoffs against any number of opponents?

“You’re well aware of the fact that during elimination games four through seven you’ve got to adopt the exact same philosophy that you’ve had in games one through three,” said Ward. “It’s your fault if you change anything about your game [entering an elimination game]. You can’t change your approach. It’s just a number.

“I’d be lying if I said that a close-out game wasn’t tough, because it is,” added Ward.

The Black and Gold have a chance to banish one more hockey ghost wearing a Blue, White and Red hockey jersey in their own hallowed hockey house on Wednesday night. It’s time for this mixture of young and experienced Bruins to show the killer instinct of a champion with one final, fatal finishing blow to the wonderfully reeling Habs in this team-testing “elimination game.”

Joe Haggerty covers the Bruins for WEEI.com.