The Boston Bruins are up 2-1 on the Toronto Maple Leafs, as the series continues tonight at 8:00 pm north of the border.
As it often is in the playoffs, this series has been all about opportunity. The Leafs have outhit the Bruins 171-155 for a total of 326 hits in just three games. Toronto has a 100-88 edge in shots too, while only scoring 6 goals.
This has been the only close series in the Eastern Conference with the other three series being 3-0. However, if Toronto doesn’t win tonight, In my opinion, it’s curtains. The Bruins’ goaltending has been so good, and the Leafs’ penalty kill so bad, that I do not see Toronto digging out of a 3-1 hole.
Goaltending, Opportunistic Play the Story for the Bruins
In Game 1, defensive miscues and bad penalties from Toronto gave the Bruins all they needed to get the win. In Game 3, it was the same story.
For both wins, Swayman’s play has been incredible and a big topic of conversation in Boston. All year they’ve rotated play between Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark. While Ullmark was very good in the Game 2 loss, Swayman has posted a 1.51 GAA, .955 SV% and quite frankly never loses against Toronto. It is still unclear who will be in the net tonight for the Bruins.
Brad Marchand, Jake DeBrusk are Carrying the Offense
Up until Game 3, Brad Marchand had been relatively quiet. Yes, he had 3 points in the first two games, but his presence hadn’t been felt the way we’re used to. However, on Wednesday, he took over.
With Toronto leading 1-0, Marchand and Bertuzzi were jousting in the middle of the ice for what felt like an eternity. No penalty was called, and it was enough of a distraction for Frederic to score on a nothing shot from the point to tie the game.
With the game tied 2-2, a perfect shot from Marchand on the powerplay gave the Bruins the lead, and eventually the win.
Then there’s Jake DeBrusk.
In the regular season, DeBrusk had 19 goals and 40 points. 6 of those points were in 4 games against the Maple Leafs. In the playoffs, he has 3 goals and 5 points. All 3 goals were on the powerplay. The point? For whatever reason, this guy gets up to play against Toronto. It’s a good thing too, since Pastrnak and the rest of the offense has been relatively quiet.
Special Teams are not so Special for Toronto
In Toronto, there’s a lot of chatter about the lack of energy in the building, missed calls by the refs and, of course, the absence of William Nylander. We can discuss all of those things, and I do think they all have a place in the conversation. However, the real story when we get down to it, is the fact that the special teams are a glaring problem, and they have to be fixed.
Toronto has had 11 powerplays through 3 games. They’ve scored once. They’ve been on the penalty kill 10 times, and they’ve allowed 5 goals. Complain all you want about the other stuff Leaf fans, I get it. I’m one of you. But, it doesn’t matter how many missed calls there are if you’re not going to score on the opportunities you do have.
Can Nylander Cure the Goal Scoring Woes?
We now know William Nylander has been dealing with terrible migraines for the last week and has been under strict protocol. To say “we know” might be a little misleading since the Leafs are so coy about these things, and Nylander has been downplaying it all weekend.
However, either way, he is most likely back on the ice tonight, and my goodness, it’s about time. Nylander is a massive part of the powerplay, how they move the puck, and more importantly, how they win games. Nylander had 40 goals and 98 points this season, and they need every bit of that to even up the series tonight at Scotiabank Arena.
What to Expect in Game 4
I know this is incredibly simplistic, but Toronto need to score goals. They’ve outhit the Bruins and outshot the Bruins. Now, they need to outscore the Bruins.
Auston Matthews has only 1 goal this series, and that needs to change. However, aside from being under the weather in Game 3, he’s had a pretty good series thus far.
Mitch Marner has not looked the same since his ankle injury, but he needs to find a way to be impactful on the score sheet. He’s a massive part of the powerplay, penalty kill, and offense in general, and as we’ve noted, all of that has been bad. He needs to be a game-breaker tonight.
It will be interesting to see how Nylander responds in the game after not seeing any playoff action in this series. The Leafs better hope he’s at full speed because they don’t have the luxury of anything different.
On the Bruins’ side of things, I haven’t felt like they’ve been overly dominant or impressive. As we’ve talked about, it does feel like it’s been more about their goaltending and what Toronto hasn’t been doing, rather than about what they’ve done.
That being said, David Pastrnak has been ghost-like for much of this series, and I don’t see that trend continuing.
Without being on the brink of elimination, this is as must-win as it gets for the home team. After two days off, I expect the Maple Leafs to clean up what it’s been ailing them, and get a win. If not, it’s going to be a long wait until Tuesday’s Game 5 in the city of Toronto.
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