The Bruins have known who their first-round opponent in the Stanley Cup Playoffs was going to be for the last 10 days, but it’s not as though Bruce Cassidy and his staff had to dig particularly deep into their film to size up what Boston was set to face in the Maple Leafs.
The book has been out on Toronto for the past couple of seasons when it comes to what to expect from Mike Babcock’s club: keep the puck down low and find gaps in the Leafs’ haphazard D corps — and get into a track meet at your own risk.
“We know we’re fast in this locker room,” Leafs forward Mitch Marner said. “I think when we play right it’s hard to stop us.”
In the immediate aftermath of Boston’s disappointing 4-1 loss to the Leafs in Game 1, Patrice Bergeron was candid when asked to sum up what a Boston defense that has only relinquished an average of 2.4 goals on home ice faced against an explosive Leafs offense.
“To be honest, it was nothing we didn’t expect,” he said. “We talked a lot about taking care of the blue lines and you know, playing playoff hockey. And a lot of that wasn’t done tonight.”
During a playoff series in which an immovable force (a third-ranked Bruins defense at 2.58 GA/G) meets an unstoppable object (a fourth-ranked Toronto offense at 3.49 GF/G), one has to expect both clubs to trade some shots in the ring.
What Boston wasn’t expecting was tripping on the ropes on the way in.
"Mistakes are going to happen when the pace turns up," Brandon Carlo said. "I can tell you from being in my first game, it’s fast-paced. Mistakes are going to happen—we just have to do a better job suppressing it.
On a night in which Boston somehow managed to hold an edge in both shot attempts (56-49) and shots on goal (32-28), the Leafs were on the right side of the most telling offensive statistics — high-danger chances (13) and, of course, four goals scored.
Most of those quality looks for the Leafs were generated off of gimmies relinquished by the Bruins — with fault landing on all parties out on the ice. As is to be expected during a game in which you are on the receiving end of multiple breakaways or odd-man rushes, most of the damage was self-inflicted thanks to a couple of misplays on the blue line.
The top infraction came off the stick of Jake DeBrusk — who coughed up the puck at the blue line during a pivotal power-play sequence in the early minutes of the second period. The skittering puck managed to tumble out to the neutral zone, giving Marner a clear path to Tuukka Rask. Marner didn't cash in on the clean break, but made up for it seconds later — with his penalty-shot danglefest giving Toronto the lead for good at 2:47.
"I just was in an uncomfortable position originally and I thought I had control of it and then I actually saw the replay," DeBrusk said. "I looked and I had my stick in between my legs somehow – I don’t know how or why – but anyways it’s playoff and I just tried as hard as I could to get back, skate as fast as I could, try and make the play and I felt that one for sure."
