Per Sportsnet, Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference has been suspended one game for his elbow to the head of Toronto forward Mikhail Grabovski in Game 1.
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Well that was worth waiting nine years for……
The Boston Bruins dominated and embarrassed the inexperienced Toronto Maple Leafs in an ugly 4-1 loss in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal at TD Garden Wednesday night.
James van Riemsdyk scored for Toronto and James Reimer made 36 saves against a withering Boston attack. Other than a few offensive forays from Mikhail Grabovski and a second period breakaway chance by Tyler Bozak, the Leafs were unable to generate any consistent offensive attack against the experienced and playoff savvy Bruins.
Wade Redden, Nathan Horton, David Krejci and Johnny Boychuk scored for Boston and Tuukka Rask made 19 saves for the his first playoff victory since 2010.
The evening started out positively as van Riemsdyk scored a power play goal 1:54 into the first period with Boston’s premier penalty killer and faceoff specialist Patrice Bergeron in the box. Toronto effectively forechecked the Bruins for the first half of the opening period, but the warning signs of impending doom began to show as the period progressed, with the Leafs forwards failing to get the puck deep into the Boston zone and the Toronto blueliners turning the puck over with increasing frequency.
Wade Redden’s tying and Nathan Horton’s tip-in tally with 12 seconds left in the first were a direct result of Toronto’s inability to escape the defensive zone and maintain control of the puck. Their disorganized play continued into the middle frame, as the Leafs struggled to get fresh troops on the ice and match lines with the long change.
After trapping tired Leafs players on the ice nearly two minutes, Mark Fraser's turnover in front of the Toronto net led to Boston increasing their lead to 3-1, as Krejci found the puck through a scramble and fired it through Reimer's pads.
Boychuk’s long blast made it 4-1 and was the only goal that Reimer could rightly be faulted on, as it was unscreened and just inside the blueline.
“I just thought we self-destructed” Carlyle said after the game.
That self-destruction has been a recurring theme for the Maple Leafs, who have repeated the disastrous combination of allowing massive shots on goal, having the opposition dominate puck possession, incessant turnovers and not generating their own scoring chances going back to the five game losing streak in mid-March.
Carlyle recognized the Bruins dominant play after the game, but endeavored to keep things in perspective.
"We've had performances that we're not happy with and I would say that there's always going to be a concern, but the one thing that's in the back of our minds, it's that we know we can play better than we did tonight."
Nazem Kadri was a non-factor in his first taste of NHL playoff hockey, Joffrey Lupul was -2 on the night and Phil Kessel was once again neutralized by Boston’s shutdown pairing of Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg, registering only one shot on goal in nearly 14 minutes of ice time.
The Leafs coach indicated that there will be lineup changes for Game 2 on Saturday. Mike Kostka, who was on the ice for three of Boston’s goals will likely be replaced by veteran Ryan O’Byrne or Jake Gardiner and either Matt Frattin, Ryan Hamilton or Joe Colborne will step in for Fraser McLaren, as Boston’s 4th line of Paille-Thornton-Campbell thoroughly outplayed the line of Orr-McClement-McLaren, but these tinkering changes won’t add up to much if Toronto’s core players don’t find a way to make an impact.
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First Round Predictions:
#3 Washington Capitals vs #6 New York Rangers
The Rangers barely made it into the post-season and did it mostly on the back of goalie Henrik Lundqvist. This is not last year’s Rangers team that went to the Eastern Conference Final, but they do have the edge in goal and on the blueline with Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh, Michael Del Zotto and the returning Marc Staal. Washington was the hottest team in the league in the last month and has more depth and firepower at forward, with Alex Ovechkin, Mike Ribiero, Martin Erat and Nick Backstrom in the top six and solid third and fourth lines. This one goes the distance.
Prediction: Capitals in 7
#2 Montreal Canadiens vs #7 Ottawa Senators
The Canadiens basically fell apart after clinching a playoff spot in early April and goalie Carey Price went from all-world goalie to emulating Marc-Andre Fleury’s beach-ball bad performance against Philadelphia overnight. In spite of their late struggles, Montreal did win the Northeast Division, have eight players that scored double figures in goals and have a defense that boasts Norris Trophy candidate PK Subban and the talented by oft-injured Andrei Markov, but in my eyes they are the weakest of the any of top seeds in either conference. Ottawa miraculously made the playoffs for the second straight year in spite of major injuries to Erik Karlsson, Jason Spezza, Craig Anderson, Milan Michalek and Jared Cowan. Coach Paul Maclean did a remarkable job coaxing good performances out of youngsters Mika Zibanejad and Jakob Slifverberg and GM Bryan Murray pulled off a coup obtaining feisty Cory Conacher from Tampa for goalie Ben Bishop.
Price has played well at times, but he has never stolen a series for the Habs. If he can regain his form and Montreal can generate enough offense, then this could be a short series, but I think the Sens have what it takes to pull the upset.
Prediction: Senators in 6
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