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Is Toronto ready for a Bruins rematch???

February 18, 2019, 2:35 PM ET [288 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs will finish off their six-game road swing against the red-hot St. Louis Blues on Tuesday and return home for a four-game homestand that will take them past the February 25th Trade Deadline.

With just seven days remaining, the playoff picture has begun to come into focus.

The Boston Bruins have won their last five games (in spite of losing winger David Pastrnak) and have moved past the Leafs into second place in the Atlantic Division, while the Montreal Canadiens have lost three straight and fallen seven points behind the Bruins and six points behind Toronto.

Toronto will have two games in hand on Boston after they play in San Jose on Monday, but with the Habs falling behind and battling for an Eastern Conference wildcard spot, it appears that the Bruins and Leafs are on a collision course for a first round rematch.

Home-ice advantage may be the only thing at stake over the final seven weeks of the regular season, but with the likelihood of a Boston – Toronto rematch increasing, will that give more impetus to Leafs GM Kyle Dubas to make moves before the deadline to better match up with a club that ran roughshod over the Leafs 12 months ago and won three of the four games this season.

The Bruins were reportedly interested in adding a top-six scoring forward to play on their second line with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk to provide secondary scoring and take some pressure off their top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Pastrnak, but that is almost a certainty with their leading goal scorer out for at least two weeks with a thumb injury.

Toronto is much stronger up the middle with the addition of John Tavares and up front with three offensive lines, but even with the Leafs adding Jake Muzzin, Boston is superior on the blueline and has arguably the best line in hockey that they could not stop last April.

While it is a long shot that Dubas can pull off another major trade to acquire a right-handed top-four defenseman, it is within the realm of possibility that the Leafs GM can add some experience and size at forward and on defense to combat the more physical Bruins.

Head coach Mike Babcock continues to hint at a need for more “heavy” players and currently the fourth line consists of Par Lindholm playing out of position, an inexperienced Frederik Gauthier up the middle and veteran Tyler Ennis.

Names such as Luke Glendening and Kyle Clifford has been mentioned in recent days and fit the profile of what the Leafs could be looking to add.

On defense, with Muzzin playing the left side and any acquisition unlikely to unseat any of the current top six, a veteran depth add such as righties Ben Lovejoy or Roman Polak make the most sense, since the price tag would be low.

The question is between now and February 25th, how much can Dubas improve his club or is he confident that they matchup well with the Bruins??

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