BOSTON — With the ghosts of past playoff failures against the Boston Bruins lingering over the Toronto Maple Leafs, nearly everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong in Game 1.
Missing William Nylander proved costly as the Leafs got no offence from the top of their lineup, took costly penalties and didn’t get the kind of stable goaltending they needed in a 5-1 loss.
Save for a third-period goal from David Kampf that only came after the game was all but decided, there weren’t many bright spots for the Leafs. Even though the Leafs outshot the Bruins 36-24, the home side outworked the visitors consistently enough to make life difficult.
“Just too many mistakes,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Penalties. Careless with our stick. That kind of stuff is not good enough.”
Under Keefe, the Leafs have now lost five of six playoff series openers.
The Leafs never found much rhythm at all, enough that it seems like lineup changes could be coming in Game 2.
Leafs’ stars don’t produce
Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Tavares presented the kind of offensive firepower the Bruins don’t necessarily have at the top of their lineup. Coming into the series, that was thought to be one of the advantages the Leafs have over the Bruins.
Matthews and Tavares stood out with their efforts to get to Jeremy Swayman and the Bruins goal. Still, while those three combined for 13 shots on goal and 23 shot attempts, they had nothing to show for it on the score sheet.
Part of the problem was the Leafs power playing going 0-for-3 on the night.
“Not good. Really slow. Disconnected,” Keefe said of the power play.
Not having Nylander in the lineup hurts this Leafs team, in fairness to them and their offensive output. The way they’re constructed, the Leafs need to get production from the top of the lineup. If one of those few pieces of the puzzle is missing, and if the other pieces don’t create offence? The results speak for themselves.
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TD Garden a house of horrors
The visitors wanted to physically engage and set the tone of the game. The first few shifts saw multiple Leafs throw noticeable hits. It made for a promising start from a team that has been accused in the past of not playing physical enough.
But then midway through the first period, Pat Maroon demolished Timothy Liljegren with a hit that sent the Leafs defenceman toppling into the Bruins bench and you were reminded, oh yeah, these are still the Bruins who can handle whatever physicality is thrown their way.
The TD Garden crowd continued to be at their raucous best as the game wore on. “USA!” chants? Check. Razzing Ilya Samsonov relentlessly after he gave up the third and fourth goals? Check.
“We’ve been here lots,” Marner said of the atmosphere. “You’ve just go to…I don’t know if it’s battle through it or anything, but we know it’s always going to be a loud building in here. It’s the same when they come to our building.”
Starting on the road didn’t harden the Leafs this series, but hampered them.
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Bruins puck pressure a problem
Aside from the physicality and how intimidating the TD Garden faithful made it for the Leafs, the most notable takeaway from the first period? The Bruins ability to pressure the puck and create turnovers is second to none. That allowed the Bruins to hit multiple posts in the first period alone. While they had far too easy a time getting close to Samsonov, the Leafs didn’t enter the first intermission with many, if any, Grade A chances.
“Turnovers through the neutral zone,” Marner said of the challenges the Leafs faced. “Obviously, we give them a very good look at the start of the game there and they capitalize on it. It’s obviously a very skilled team over there. And you give them a lot of power plays they’re going to…
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