Welcome to TD Garden for tonight’s Game 1 contest between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Bruins and Maple Leafs meet for the second consecutive postseason, with the Bruins victorious last April in seven games.
As expected,
David Backes and
Steven Kampfer will be the healthy scratches as the Bruins elect to go with a lineup that features more speed.
Bruins projected lines:
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk-David Krejci-Karson Kuhlman
Marcus Johansson-Charlie Coyle-Danton Heinen
Joakim Nordstrom-Noel Acciari-Chris Wanger
Zdeno Chara-Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug-Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk-Connor Clifton
Tuukka Rask
After missing the last two postseasons due to a concussion and then a knee injury,
Brandon Carlo will make his playoff debut tonight. Rookies
Karson Kuhlman and
Connor Clifton will also make their playoff debuts.
“I just don’t want to overwhelm myself. I feel like I had a pretty solid year and stayed consistent throughout that. Just want to continue that play coming into the playoffs and do my job,” Carlo said earlier this week.
Maple Leafs projected lines:
Zach Hyman-John Tavares-Mitch Marner
Andreas Johnsson-Auston Matthews-Kasperi Kapanen
Patrick Marleau-Nazen Kadri-William Nylander
Trevor Moore-Frederik Gauthier-Connor Brown
Morgan Rielly-Ron Hainsey
Jake Muzzin-Nikita Zaitsev
Jake Gardiner-Travis Dermott
Frederick Andersen
In Wednesday’s opening night of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the road team was victorious in three of the five games. The Maple Leafs hope to be the first to do it on night two.
“We watched a couple of games, that’s the way it is. You never know how it’s going to go,” said forward
Auston Matthews. “All these teams are so close and even. It doesn’t matter if you started on the road or where you finished (in the standings), it can go either way.”
First Period:
20:00: Toronto starts the game with Hyman, Tavares and Marner up front, Muzzin and Zaitsev on defense. Bruins will counter with Marchand, Bergeron, Pastrnak on offense, Krug and Carlo on defense.
14:07: Nice start to the night for Marcus Johansson with two early shots on goal. Has two of the Bruins three shots thus far.
11:05: Connor Clifton with a big hit on William Nylander along the boards, and Nylander retaliates with some extra stick work. Bruins will get the first power play of the night.
10:29: Some nice puck movement in the Maple Leafs zone, and Brad Marchand hits a wide open Patrice Bergeron for the power play tally. 1-0 Bruins.
3:16: Mitch Marner's deflection of a Jake Muzzin shot hits the post and the rebound bounces right back to Marner as he taps in the rebound to tie the game at one.
0:00: Bruins and Leafs head into the first intermission tied at one. Shots in favor of Toronto, 10-8.
Thoughts after 20:
I thought the Leafs were the better team in the first, but not by much. I really liked the period the Coyle line had. The trio combined for three of the Bruins eight shots, and Johansson and Heinen had a two-on-one opportunity that was broken up by the leafs defense.
According to Natural Stat Trick, scoring chances favor the Maple Leafs 11-3, and shot attempts favor them as well, 19-9.
The Bruins fourth line was a disaster in the opening 20 and clearly need to be much better in the second. The three saw just 2:21 of five-on-five ice time, and was out-attempted 7-0.
Second period
17:44: Bruins heading back on the power play as Kasperi Kapanen heads to the box for a high stick on Jake DeBrusk. Bruins are 1-1 on the power play tonight.
17:13: DeBrusk fumbles the puck on the Maple Leafs blue line and Marner is sent in on Rask all alone. DeBrusk takes Marner down who is awarded the penalty shot, and undresses Rask for his second goal of the night. 2-1 Toronto. 1:30 remains on the Bruins power play.
15:54: Johansson to Coyle right in front of Andersen, but he comes up with the save as the Leafs kill off the power play.
12:34: A pair of grade A chances for Coyle, Andersen stops one, the second is deflected wide. Coyle line is bringing it tonight.
9:01: Johansson gets a shot with Krejci and Khulman as DeBrusk is not currently on the Bruins bench. After his trip on Marner's shorthanded bid, he skated gingerly back to the bench.
8:14: DeBrusk is back on the bench.
1:35: All three Bruins forwards get caught deep and Nazem Kadri hits William Nylander with a beautiful stretch pass, sending Nylander into the Bruins zone all alone. 3-1 Toronto.
37.9: Another Maple Leafs breakaway, this time John Tavares, but Rask is there for much needed stop.
0:00 More poor puck management by the Bruins sends the Maple Leafs in on a three-on-one, but the clock hits triple zero before the Leafs get the shot off. A pretty good round off boos sends the Bruins into the second intermission.
Thoughts after 40:
Another period that saw the Maple Leafs as the better team. Much credit needs to be given to Toronto, they're doing everything right tonight. Andersen has been lights out for the Leafs, with 28 saves through two, including several high danger area saves.
It was nice to see DeBrusk bask after crashing hard into the boards, but it's clear he's still feeling whatever it was that sent him to the locker room. After several shifts, DeBrusk skated back to the Bruins bench hunched over in clear pain.
So far the Tavares line is winning the battle of the top lines. Toronto's trio has the edge in shot attempts 11-10, shots on goal 7-5 and goals 1-0 five-on-five.
Third period:
15:51: Pastrnak is nowhere to be found tonight. Bruins need more from him in the remaining 15 minutes.
12:58: Bruins fourth line finally generates some pressure, but get cant one to go. Leafs still lead 3-1. Shots in favor of the Bruins 33-25. Andersen is earning himself this one.
8:15: Puck skips over Chara's stick at the Leafs' blueline, and Chara has no choice but to interfere with Nylander. Leafs to the power play.
6:15: Chara out of the box. Bruins got to figure out something here, and quick.
2:36: Rask vacates the Bruins net.
1:24: Timeout Bruins.
1:19: Empty net goal for Tavares, 4-1 Toronto.
0:00: The Maple Leafs take Game 1 in Boston, 4-1. Game 2 Saturday night at TD Garden. Puck drops at 8:00.
Postgame thoughts:
The good news is that I don't think the Bruins can play much worse than they did tonight, and should be motivated from what was an ugly performance in Game 1. On the other hand, the Maple Leafs looked like a completely different team tonight. They were faster, stronger and smarter with the puck.
As I mentioned yesterday, in order for the Leafs to get past the Bruins, Andersen needed to be the series MVP. In Game 1, he was the Leafs' best player.
Finshing with 37 saves on the night, Andersen stopped all nine of the Bruins shots that came from high danger scoring areas according to Natural Stat Trick.
There's no denying that the Bergeron line needs to be much better in Game 2, as the Tavares line kept them in check all night long. Bergeron and company were on the losing end of shot attempts 11-7, shots on goal 7-2, and goals, 1-0 five-on-five.
Tavares also got the best of Bergeron at the faceoff dot, winning 53% of the faceoffs they took against each other, including three of four in the Bruins offensive zone.
One of the lone bright spots for the Bruins was the Coyle line. I thought Coyle was arguably the Bruins best player.
The line combined for eight shots on goal.
The Bruins will look to rebound in Game 2 Saturday, take some momentum and an even series back to Toronto for Game 3.
Boston Bruins Blogger • 
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