A puck to the throat of Kevan Miller, a puck to the back of Jake DeBrusk’s head and pucks off three different posts was enough to frustrate the Bruins on a night where they deserved a better result than the 4-2 loss suffered Monday in Toronto.

Miller left the game in the first period after a puck came up high, hitting him in the throat. Miller was kept overnight at a local hospital.

“He went to the hospital for observation,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It doesn’t look serious, but they’ll keep him overnight and hopefully his breathing will be back to normal and he’ll come back and join us. Obviously, we wish him well.”

Later in the loss, DeBrusk took a Danton Heinen shot off the back of his helmet and was unable to finish the game. Cassidy did not have much of an update after the game, other than DeBrusk did not need to join Miller at a local hospital.

For most of Monday’s contest, the Bruins were the better team with the only difference being the Maple Leafs capitalizing on their chances. The Bruins also rang three posts with Brad Marchand, Colby Cave and Heinen all coming within inches of goals.

Jaroslav Halak kept the Bruins in the game with 23 stops and David Pastrnak broke through his mini scoring slump, netting both of the Bruins two goals. The Bruins had 40 shots on goal in the loss.

The effort in Toronto is one that should result in more wins than losses.

The all-around effort of the Bruins of late has been fun to watch. With injuries to key contributors, they’ve had different guys stepping up in different situations, however, there were two guys on the ice Monday that had noticeable issues: Anders Bjork and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson.

Bjork was back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch in the Bruins last two games. When Bjork was moved to the team’s first line prior to his pair of healthy scratches, I thought it was the exact opportunity he needed to break out of his slump. Pairing his speed with the speed of Pastrnak I thought would have done the trick for Bjork.

Boy, was I wrong.

You would think after sitting out a pair of Bruins wins over the weekend, Bjork would have been ready to go and full of energy in Toronto. There was none of that. The 22-year old Bjork was on the ice for two Maple Leafs goals and then took a lazy tripping penalty in the second period that led to a Maple Leafs tally, the eventual game-winner. Bjork failed to register a shot in the game and now has just one goal in 19 games this season.

I’d be surprised if Bjork is not sent back down to Providence before Thursday’s contest against the Islanders.

JFK once again got the start on the top line, centering Brad Marchand and Pastrnak. However, the rookie didn’t last too long in the role. After a solid showing against a Penguins top line that included Sidney Crosby on Friday, Cassidy didn’t like what he saw from JFK against John Tavares and the Maple Leafs top trio.

“Listen, we’ve talked about this, he needs to bring it every night,” said Cassidy. Cave was moved up to the top line after Forsbacka Karlsson’s struggles.

“If he is going to play with those guys, it was Crosby and its Tavares, that’s a big ask. We weren’t sure if he was ready to make the move. We saw something we liked and moved him up. Tonight we didn’t see as much of it and we moved Colby up. Going forward, look, until we get Bergy back, it’s a work in progress.”

I continue to be impressed with John Moore. He looks very comfortable in his own zone and is always smart with the puck on his stick in transition. He’s excelled in closing gaps and forcing forwards to the outside with his stick more often than not in the right position. He’s making the safe plays and giving the Bruins exactly what they need with Zdeno Chara, Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo out of the lineup.

The Bruins are back at TD Garden on Thursday against the Islanders and Saturday against the Red Wings. Efforts like the one put forth on Monday should provide better results for a banged up Bruins squad.

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