On power play, (red) light has gone on

TORONTO — The power play alone didn’t lift the Bruins to their 2-1 series lead over the Maple Leafs Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena.

Jeremy Swayman again was brilliant in net, and typically nothing . . . N-O-T-H-I-N-G . . . makes up for substandard tending in the postseason. Even average goaltending often sends teams to the Stanley Cup graveyard.

But the Bruins’ power play is a thing again, revived and confident, and now a sizzling 5 for 10 since the playoffs began Saturday. Jake DeBrusk connected for his third PPG of the series, and Brad Marchand scored his second of the game on the advantage, sweeping the puck into an empty net for the 4-2 closer.

“I don’t know, you guys are the analysts,” DeBrusk said postgame, asked what has turned the club’s man-advantage into a powerhouse. “As a net-front guy, I just kind of try to find spots to be open. I think sometimes it just takes one to fall. But at the same time, in the waves and flow of the season — I think it happens to every group, even the best power plays in the league can struggle for a month and then it finds its tune.

The power play had been a dog’s breakfast over the final three weeks of the regular season. Once a strength, it had become a giant, troubling soft spot.

Now three games into the postseason, the Bruins are blistering on the advantage, and three of those goals belong to DeBrusk. He scored a pair in Game 1.

“I just think it’s the pace we’re playing with,” said coach Jim Montgomery, asked his view of the revived unit. “Pucks are moving. People are moving the puck. It’s what we were trying to do for those 12 games.”

Montgomery late in the season also altered the look of the first and second units, with slight tweaks in personnel, along with shortening the time the first unit spent on the ice. It looks like the changes are finally paying off.

“Splitting up the units created inner competition,” noted Montgomery. “It also freed people’s minds of, like, ‘Oh, I gotta get the puck to [David Pastrnak],’ or ‘I’ve got to get the puck to [Brad Marchand].’ It was the same ol’, same ol’. Now it’s fresh.”

Some other observations:

▪ Trent Frederic’s tying goal, to make it 1-1, had to be the first huge letdown of the night for the Leafs. They had been generating traction in the offensive end after Matthew Knies provided the Leafs a 1-0 lead at 11:10.

Momentum was on the Blue and White’s side . . . until Ilya Samsonov failed to close off the short side on Frederic’s shot from near the dot in the left circle. The cardinal sin in goaltending: giving up short-side goals.

▪ Following the Leafs’ morning workout,

Mitch Marner talked about the need to watch out for passes to the weak side by the Bruins whenever David Pastrnak was on the ice.

“They make you pay if you give them odd-man rushes,” he said, “and they’re constantly sending a guy wide [to the back door].”

And it was the slick Marner who set up Knies for the first goal of the night, taking advantage of loose coverage in the defensive end by the Bruins. Knies rushed to the backside (left post) with Parker Wotherspoon and Kevin Shattenkirk the back liners, and Marner delivered the perfect pass for his linemate to snap high on Jeremy Swayman.

▪ The first two games of the series included a surprising amount of contact between the sides.

They combined for 93 hits (Leafs, 52-41) in the series opener. Two nights later, the Bruins held a 52-45 edge. Two games, 190 hits.

That’s heavy work, especially for teams that prioritize skill over contract.

“Fatigue’s certainly a factor — it’s difficult to sustain that,” said Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe, acknowledging that hitting tends to back off as a series plays out. “It’s why you don’t see that level in the regular season, because you know you’ve got to play again and again and again. It’s why, in a lot of cases, the first round is the most physical — because everyone’s fresh and on a pretty even playing field.

“That said, I don’t see it changing in this series any time soon.”

The theme didn’t change in the first period. They combined for 60 hits, with the Bruins holding a 32-28 edge.

▪ Jake DeBrusk, not known for his physical play, led both sides with five smacks. He finished with seven for the night.

“Well, guys get tired, right?” added Bruins coach Jim Montgomery, pondering prior to puck drop why the hitting normally diminishes as a series broadens. “I think that’s why. What are we, the third game in five nights? But you might see it come back here because we’ve got two days off.

Montgomery was right. When the night was over, the clubs accounted for 123 hits, the Maple Leafs with a 68-65 advantage.

▪ After being scratched in the first two games, James van Riemsdyk drew back in for the Bruins, mainly because Montgomery hoped his net-front skills could help on the power play.

JVR, who spent six seasons with the Leafs (2012-18), has benefited from NHL rule changes through the years that penalize some of the vicious cross-checks defensemen routinely used to move forwards away from the net front.

“Yeah, the hardest part in my career at front,” mused van Riemsdyk, thinking back to his early years with the Flyers, “was in practice with Chris Pronger, my rookie year.”

Pronger, the towering back liner, was known for his trademark cross-checks, often with opposing forwards sent crashing to the ice.

“It’s definitely a little different now,” noted JVR. “And obviously, there are some things that come with it that, as a player, you had to adjust to. I don’t know if you’d necessarily call it harder or easier. But the game is different. I don’t think there is as much camping out there now because the game is so fast, you can’t be static too long. You need good timing and the instincts to know what time to be there, and I think that’s all part of it.”

It was JVR’s first postseason game since 2020 (his second tour with the Flyers), and only the 72nd postseason game of his career. Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy, eight years younger, suited up for his 81st Stanley Cup game.

JVR did not figure in the scoresheet. He logged only 10:46 in ice time, and fired six shots, two of which made it to the net.

▪ The Bruins generated next to nothing at even strength in the opening 20:00. They totaled seven shots, five of which came on the power play. Pavel Zacha squeezed off their best bid, turned away on a shorthanded breakaway. Their one shot at even strength was by Pastrnak, a quick shot from the left faceoff circle after McAvoy wheeled around the net from the right side on a wrap-around attempt.

They’ve now outscored the Leafs, 11-6, in the three games. The Toronto power play has gone a risible 1 for 11.