Bruins
BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Bruins could have found just the answer to their playoff loss: a first-round matchup with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Bruins haven’t lost a playoff series to Toronto since 1959 and have won six straight series, helping extend their Original Six rival's Stanley Cup drought to greater than half a century. Boston won all 4 of its regular-season games with the Leafs – all undoubtedly motivating Toronto to show things around.
“I think just based on the history we've had with them recently, they're probably our biggest rival over the last decade,” Bruins captain said Brad Marchand said Thursday because the team began practicing for Saturday's series opener.
“It definitely increases the emotions and intensity for the fans. It’s a lot of fun to play,” he said. “It’s always extremely competitive. You never know what direction the series will take. But that’s what you want and what you love about hockey.”
Although the outcomes were one-sided, the Bruins needed to work for his or her victories.
Boston also won two consecutive seven-game series in 2018 and 2019. In their first round game in 2013, the Bruins rallied from a three-goal third period deficit in Game 7 to win in extra time.
“Totally new game and new season,” Auston Matthews, one in every of five Toronto holdovers from the last game five years ago, told The Canadian Press after the regular-season-ending loss to Tampa. “Do our due diligence and make sure we recover and are ready.”
The one-sided story raised questions on whether the Bruins set themselves up for a matchup with the Leafs by losing three of their final 4 games of the season. As a result, Boston fell out of first place within the Atlantic Division – and could lead on to a duel with the more dangerous Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Bruins haven't made the playoffs since 2021 – despite setting NHL records for points and wins last season.
Marchand thinks it's silly to underestimate Toronto.
“Nothing you do this season has any bearing on what will happen in the future,” he said. “You start getting caught up in the past, whether it's good or bad, it's going to affect your game. You have to stay in the moment, in the time of the playoffs.”
Matthews turns his attention to the playoffs after failing to succeed in his goal of 70 goals, going scoreless in back-to-back losses at the top of the season and ending with 69 goals.
“The most important thing is the team and the success of the team. I make sure that as the leader of this team I can do my part and help the team win,” he said. “That’s where my focus lies.”
Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said he doesn't measure Matthews' contribution by goals.
“I know there was a lot of focus on him scoring 70 goals. “You kind of lose sight of how well he played,” Keefe said. “It wasn’t meant to be, and that’s okay. 69 is an incredible season.”
The Bruins aren't saying who will start in net, but there are signs they are going to no less than start with Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman within the rotation.
“Our goaltenders know what the plan is,” general manager Don Sweeney said. “They know where their strengths lie for our ice hockey club and how much we rely on them. And performance and results will determine part of that. But we know what the plan is. And we are happy with that.”
The Bruins' goaltenders rotated this season unless injuries required an adjustment. Swayman, who played three of the 4 games against Toronto, had a 25-10-8 record with a 2.53 goals-against average in 43 starts overall, and Ullmark had a 22-10-7 record in 39 starts, which was 2nd .57 goals allowed per game.
Ullmark was the playoff starter last 12 months when he won the Vezina Trophy after leading the Bruins to a record-setting regular season. But after allowing six goals on 32 shots within the Game 6 loss to Florida, Swayman began – and lost – the decisive first-round win.
“We have a lot of confidence in our goaltending,” Sweeney said. “I think that’s been a strength of our hockey club, especially in the last two years.”
Both teams ended the regular season with a losing streak.
While Boston lost three of its last 4 games, Toronto lost 4 straight and finished third within the Atlantic, seven points behind the Bruins and still 4 points higher than Tampa Bay.
“Definitely not the way we want to play in the postseason,” Matthews said. “I don’t think we can just think we’re going to turn it on.”
Toronto hopes to construct on last 12 months's postseason, when it beat Tampa in six games and advanced for the primary time since 2004. The Bruins hope to forget last 12 months, once they set NHL records with 65 wins and 135 points but were eliminated in the primary round of the playoffs by Florida.
“Looking back, we were definitely thinking about doing a long run and preparing for a long run,” Marchand said. “In everyday life, it’s definitely a lesson we can learn and build on.”
image credit : www.boston.com