Leafs, Bruins set to resume hostilities
Coke vs. Pepsi, Sherlock Holmes vs. Professor Moriarty, Snoopy vs. The Red Baron.
You can’t move past some rivalries and in the 21st century NHL, in these parts anyway, that’s Leafs vs. Bruins. Rooted in the 1930s with the Eddie Shore hit on Ace Bailey, through the ’70s and Pat Quinn’s check on Bobby Orr, Hogtown-Beantown was restoked when Toronto came back to the Eastern Conference, made the Phil Kessel trade with the B’s and then lost two Game 7s the past five years.
Black and gold has been the bane of this generation of Leafs and Saturday’s fourth and final instalment of the season series has plenty of post-season innuendo given the Leafs can’t catch Tampa Bay and the Bruins are the next closest Atlantic pursuer. Three of the Leafs’ four fights this season were in the last game, a 6-3 loss at TD Garden in Boston, where at least they got ornery at the end.
“We’ve proven we don’t want to be pushed around and won’t be pushed around,” said Toronto centre Nazem Kadri, who got into it with defenceman Brandon Carlo. “We have guys standing up for themselves, a key component of a successful team.
“This will be somewhat the same, a big measuring stick, but I think there will be some (lineup fine tuning) come playoff time.”
Centre John Tavares didn’t hide his feelings last month about the Leafs not being up to the challenge.
“We have to execute better and understand your opponent,” Tavares said Friday. “Especially their top line, not giving them time and space. I’ve only been a part of it for three games, but I get a sense of it being a divisional game and a battle for position.”
In that last meeting, winger Zach Hyman earned a two-game suspension for a hit on Boston defenceman Charlie McAvoy, his first such sentence in the NHL. He has not commented on that play much since, except to say he won’t change his style and that there was no post-game followup communication between him and McAvoy, who stayed in the game.
“Saturday first and then a long way until playoffs,” cautioned Hyman about reading too much into the result.
Kadri and Jake Gardiner were on the 2013 team that lost in playoffs to Boston, while Morgan Rielly was part of last year’s heartbreak.
“You don’t really think about the past,” Rielly insisted. “They’re playing well, an outstanding power play. We have our hands full, but looking forward to the challenge. We’re a different team in personnel and experience. This group has confidence against any team in the league. We did video this morning on what we can do to prepare, worked on it in practice and now it’s just about putting forth a good effort.”
Toronto begins Saturday with a four-point lead on Boston and a game in hand. If the Leafs can’t reel in the Lightning, the next goal would be finishing high enough to open the playoffs at home, against Boston or whomever.
“There’s no guarantee that’s going to happen,” coach Mike Babcock said of holding second seed. “There are really good teams on our side. Winning tomorrow is on my mind, staying with the process and getting the team better usually looks after (standings). Would you like to start at home? For sure, (but) we’ve been pretty good on the road.”
The Leafs know Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak, comprising Boston’s top line, are the first hurdle. David Krejci and David Backes aren’t far behind them and on to big blueliner Zdeno Chara, still a plow horse in his late 30s, with McAvoy, and either Tuukka Rask or Jaroslav Halak in net — both of them effective versus Toronto.
Kadri believes the Leafs’ speed will eventually prevail should another playoff meeting be in the cards.
“That’s the identity of our team and we don’t want to stray too far from that,” he said. “Keep the puck moving north and south in straight lines. What stops us is coming through the neutral zone sometimes. Our offensive play is pretty outstanding with the elusiveness, the shiftiness and speed we have.”