Old foe Bruins still have a slight edge
Ghosts of failures past continue to haunt the Leafs
Long before the Maple Leafs couldn’t beat Florida in the second round, or Tampa Bay twice in the first round, there were the Boston Bruins.
And now Boston, a team that has won the past six head-to-head playoff matchups going back to 1969, is back to haunt the Leafs fan base.
To make matters worse, the Leafs are going into the playoffs on a fourgame skid, and the Bruins beat the Leafs the four times they met this season. The good news? The playoffs are different.
“It’s just a different animal to see, come post-season time,” Leafs scoring star Auston Matthews said. “Everything that happened in the regular season gets washed because it’s a completely new game and a new season in itself. So we’ve gotta make sure that we’re prepared.”
How prepared? After Wednesday’s 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the regular-season finale, Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe revealed the preparations had long begun.
“It’s a great team,” Keefe said. “I’m not afraid to admit to you that this is the first time in our regular-season games I was watching video of another team during the intermissions.
“So we’re working all we can to get ourselves prepared and ready to go, and that’s really where our mind is at.”
The Leafs are unwilling owners of the longest Stanley Cup drought in NHL history: 57 years. And though they beat Tampa Bay last spring to win a first-round series for the first time since 2004, there remain more questions than answers about a deeply talented but sometimes flawed roster.
But the Bruins aren’t perfect, either.
Here’s how the two teams stack up.
Season series
Boston won all four games and pushed around the Leafs. Brad Marchand’s unpenalized hit on Timothy Liljegren, which resulted in a high-ankle sprain, went unchallenged, though the Leafs have gotten better at standing up for each other since.
Forwards
Leafs Matthews scored a franchiserecord 69 goals, William Nylander had a career year with 97 points and John Tavares and Mitch Marner bounced back from some rough stretches. Health might be an issue, though Calle Järnkrok, Max Domi and Bobby McMann are expected to return from injuries. Their centres won 53.4 per cent of their draws, fourth in the NHL.
Bruins Marchand is the straw that stirs the drink and David Pastrnak does the scoring. Pavel Zacha looks like found money, better with the Bruins than he ever was with the Devils. Charlie Coyle had a career year (25 goals, 35 assists) stepping up at centre after the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. Edge Leafs
Defence
Leafs The defence is as big as it has been in recent memory with Joel Edmundson (six-foot-five) and Simon Benoit (six-foot-four) and no blueliner under six feet. Liljegren and Ilya Lyubushkin give rightshot balance. Morgan Rielly, as always, will lead the offensive output. T.J. Brodie’s game has come around, and no one gets to the puck angrier than Jake McCabe. The Leafs are 16th in scoring by defencemen.
Bruins Charlie McAvoy leads a tough and mobile blue line. Brandon Carlo is strong and long (sixfoot-five). Kevin Shattenkirk and Hampus Lindholm are elite puck handlers and passers with speed. The group knows how to get in lanes and protect the net.
Edge Bruins Goaltending
Leafs The Leafs have plenty of them, though all have spent time with the Marlies. Ilya Samsonov has had a successful finish to the season after a terrible start. Joseph Woll has had a rough stretch after a good start.
Martin Jones hasn’t played regularly since a decent run in January.
And somehow Matt Murray, back from double hip surgery in the fall, has joined the conversation.
Bruins Boston has the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, Linus Ullmark, as a backup to Jeremy Swayman, who is Vezina-worthy this year.
Boston allowed 218 goals, far fewer than the 246 expected goals that the website Natural Stat Trick says opponents put together.
Edge Bruins
Special teams
Both teams are somewhere between saints and angels when it comes to taking penalties, with the Leafs spending an average of nine minutes and 56 seconds in the box and Boston 9:30. Toronto is in the top 10 on the power play at 24.3 per cent; the Bruins are at 22.2 per cent.
Boston (82.5 per cent) is an elite penalty-killing team; the Leafs (76.9 per cent) are not.
Edge Even
Analytics
The Leafs rate among the league’s best in possession at five-on-five (50.96 per cent) and expected goals percentage in all situations (52.32) while generating far more highdanger chances than opponents. The Bruins, however, have outperformed poor analytics.
They went 10-7-0 after the March 8 trade deadline despite being near the bottom in expected goal percentage (47.70 in all situations) and possession (45.89 at five-on-five). Edge Leafs
Coaching
Leafs Keefe is the quintessential players’ coach, so perhaps it’s time for them to repay him. His collar does get noticeably tighter at playoff time.
Bruins Jim Montgomery is the reigning Jack Adams Trophy winner as coach of the year. There’s an ease about him. He always seems to get the best out of players.
Edge Bruins
X factor
Leafs Domi, Tyler Bertuzzi and Ryan Reaves were acquired in part because of their nasty side and playoff experience.
All have risen to the occasion, something the holdover forwards can’t all say.
Bruins Remember? It was 4-1. The Bruins have had the Leafs’ number. Edge Bruins
Series prediction
Boston in six