History repeats itself for Bruins legend Cam Neely.

Jun 11, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Boston Bruins president

is interviewed during media day in preparation for game one of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final against the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

History has a vicious way of repeating itself. Just ask Cam Neely. The Bruins triple-overtime loss to Chicago on Wednesday night looked eerily similar to a triple overtime loss Boston expierenced when the now president was a player back in 1990.

Neely never lamented over that particular loss. (The Bruins lost the Stanley Cup that year to the Edmonton Oilers in five games.) “It’s always tough to lose in triple overtime like that, that’s what I remember. But you’re in the Stanley Cup Final, so it wasn’t really, mentally it wasn’t tough to recover from that. Physically, it was the same for both teams.”

Neely’s triple overtime game lasted five hours and thirty two minutes. It is currently the longest playoff game in NHL history. (The Bruins game on Wednesday is now in the top five.) Neely is not worried about the team’s ability to turn the page and take on game two head on.

“These guys have been here before, not in a triple overtime game, but we’ve got the same team from ’11.” offered the Bruins legend. “They’ve got the experience of we lost the first two games on the road [in Vancouver], we came back and battled and won. They can feed off that experience.”

These marathon games briefly brought back the debate of using the shootout in post-season play. Nearly all the NHL players rejected the idea outright. When members of the Boston Bruins were asked if they wanted to see the shooutout as part of the playoffs, their answers were rather blunt. “Absolutely not!” stated B’s forward Chris Kelly. When he was asked to clarify, he did. “Because then, we wouldn’t be talking about classic games like [Wednesday] night.”

Patrice Bergeron completly agrees. “The stakes are so high-you can’t decide a game like that on a shootout.” That next high stakes game is tomorrow night at 8pm.