Leafs facing familiar climb
Toronto took series to limit five years ago after digging 3-1 hole
The Maple Leafs had only started to absorb their fate and their precarious position in the Stanley Cup playoffs after a gutwrenching 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Thursday when they started looking forward to Saturday. That would be Game 5. Win and continue playing, or lose and go golfing.
“We’re in a simple situation,” said Leafs coach Mike Babcock. “If we win, we get to play again. If we don’t win, we don’t get to play again. To me, that’s worth digging in for.
“I think we can go into Boston and win a game. I really believe that. We’re going to need a game out of our goaltender, and we’re going to need all hands on deck.”
That wasn’t the case Thursday as a Boston team without injured star centre Patrice Bergeron defeated Toronto to take a 3-1 stranglehold on their bestof-seven series.
“They’re in the position they want to be in, which is going home with an opportunity to close,” said defenceman Ron Hainsey. “Having said that, now it’s 3-1. We have to be able to put the pressure on them. They’re going to be expected to close us out.
“I learned last year (as a Pittsburgh Penguin) how hard it is to close teams out.”
Bergeron (upper body) was a surprise scratch just before the game, but his linemates produced without him. Brad Marchand scored and David Pastrnak had two assists. Defenceman Torey Krug opened the scoring in the first on a helper from Pastrnak just 28 seconds in.
Winger Jake DeBrusk scored early in the third.
Boston without Bergeron was no gimme: The Bruins were 92-2 in the regular season without him. And the way youngsters and others rose to the occasion during injuries to key players was a big reason why the Bruins did so well in the regular season.
“I’m certain they’d rather have him,” Hainsey said. “He’s the best player on the ice, or one of, any nights he plays. It wasn’t like we were doing cartwheels they were missing a guy. It wasn’t like we were expecting an easy night.”
The Leafs trailed Boston 3-1 in 2013, but extended the series to overtime in Game 7.
Things look grim again after the Leafs had trouble scoring on Tuukka Rask. Continually frustrated despite lengthy shifts in the Boston end, they were guilty of forcing plays that weren’t there.
Jake Gardiner’s ill-fated pinch in the second period led to Marchand’s go-ahead goal. A poor shot from Travis Dermott, easily blocked by David Krejci, led to DeBrusk’s goal early in the third as Boston converted on two-on-ones.
“Not the situation we wanted. We have to be better than that,” Hainsey said.
Tomas Plekanec scored for Toronto, and linemate Mitch Marner has points in three straight games. But Auston Matthews and William Nylander have yet to perform to the level expected. Matthews has one goal, Nylander has one assist.
“The great thing about playoff time and being a young guy is, you get lots of lessons,” Babcock said. “No one is more aware than (Matthews) is. I’m assuming he thought he was going to dominate the game. I thought the same of (Nylander).
“That didn’t happen.”