Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 2-1 loss to the Maple Leafs in Game 5 of their playoff series, with BSJ insight and analysis:
Box Score
HEADLINES
Nothing doing after 40 minutes: Best-of-3 series. Home-ice advantage. Sean Kuraly back in the fold — what’s not to like if you’re the Bruins? But for as much as the momentum seemed to swing in favor of the B’s following Wednesday’s Game 4 victory up north, the Bruins apparently opted for decaf for most of the first 40 minutes of play — landing just 15 shots on goal through the first two periods while only generating two high-danger scoring chances during 34:00 of 5v5 play.
While Bruce Cassidy juggled his lines for most of the night in search of a spark, Boston failed to generate quality looks early and often against Frederik Andersen — laboring in the neutral zone against an active Leafs club while failing to build anything substantive in the O-zone with Toronto often packing things in around the slot. Boston certainly didn’t do itself any favors on special teams — failing to convert on all three of their chances on the man advantage through the first 40 minutes of play. Thankfully, a strong showing from Tuukka Rask kept things scoreless through the first two stanzas. But ...
And then it got worse: ... Something eventually had to give, and after the Bruins only managed to land three shots on goal through the first 12 minutes of the third period — the Leafs finally capitalized, with Auston Matthews snapping one home on a controversial goal. While the Bruins might have had a case for goaltender interference after Zach Hyman bumped Rask in the seconds leading up to Matthews’ tally, it’s tough to get hung up on that when you look at the whole body of work — or whatever it was that the Bruins rolled out in a disappointing 2-1 result.
While
David Krejci
’s last-minute goal made it a 2-1 game after
Kasperi Kapanen
lit the lamp at 13:45, it was too little, too late on a night in which Boston’s top line of
Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand
and
David Pastrnak
only attempted three shots in 7:49 of 5v5 TOI together — while Boston as a whole only attempted 40 shots in 49:37 of 5v5 play.
All in all, a brutal, no-show performance on home ice for the Bruins — who now will have to fight for their playoff lives up in enemy territory on Sunday afternoon.
TWO UP
Tuukka Rask:
Rask surrendered goals in the final 10 minutes of play to Matthews and Kapanen, but on a night in which most of the Bruins failed to show up, Rask kept his club in it — stopping 25 of the 27 shots that came his way. Had Boston somehow managed to take this one, Rask would have earned heaps of credit for stealing a game.
David Krejci:
Krejci gave the Bruins life in the final minute of play, ripping a one-timer past Andersen with 43.4 seconds left on the clock to put Boston on the board. Unfortunately, not enough for Boston to complete a rally. Krejci’s line (with Pastrnak at RW) was one of the few lineup combinations for Boston that managed to finish the game with a positive differential in shot attempts (5-4) while primarily matched up against
William Nylander’s
line.
THREE DOWN
Power play:
In a game with a slim margin for victory, Boston was gifted with three quality chances to put one past Andersen on the power play. No dice — as Boston struggled for extended stretches to set up in the Leafs’ zone, while a misplay by
Torey Krug
led to a shorthanded breakaway for Kapanen. Even with an assist tonight, it’s pretty evident that Krug is not right after taking that hit from
Jake Muzzin
in Game 2.
Bottom six:
While
Sean Kuraly
was solid, albeit unspectacular (14:22 TOI) in his postseason debut on Friday, Boston’s third and fourth lines labored for most of the night — with Cassidy putting them on the backburner as the B’s scoring chances bottomed out.
David Backes
logged a team-low 4:36 TOI, while
Noel Acciari
was out for just two Bruins shot attempts — and 10 in favor of Toronto — in 8:46 of 5v5 TOI.
Bergeron line:
Back on home ice, the Bruins appeared to get the matchups they wanted, with the Bergeron line logging shifts up against the Matthews line. It didn’t last very long, as Boston’s big guns were pantsed by No. 34 and Co. Bergeron failed to land a single attempt when sharing the ice with Matthews through the first two periods of play. In total, during a small span of 5:07 of 5v5 TOI in which Bergeron and Matthews faced off, the Leafs held the edge in shot attempts (8-1), shots on goal (4-1) and outright goals (1-0). Not going to win when your go-to options up front fall flat.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Boston finally cashed in with less than a minute to go in regulation. Again, too little, too late.
PARTING THOUGHT
Great to see
Marc Savard
back at TD Garden.
LOOKING AHEAD
