The Bruins will have their work cut out for them when it comes to slowing down Toronto’s high-powered offense.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
It’s been five years since the Bruins and Maple Leafs met in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. But even though both rosters have gone through plenty of changes since 2019, the gameplan remains the same for Boston in yet another playoff bout against their Original Six foe.
It’s going to be a battle of offense vs. defense, with Boston’s goalie tandem set for its toughest test yet against the likes of Auston Matthews and the Leafs.
Here are five keys for Boston as it looks to punch its ticket to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Win the netfront battle — down both ends of the ice
In some respects, the Toronto Maple Leafs are a bit like a “Fast & Furious” sequel. The supporting cast tends to be a little different every couple of years, and the set pieces tend to get reshuffled to avoid getting stale. But at the end of the day, it’s still the same old script.
And even though this current Maple Leafs team has added a bit more sandpaper to its potent offensive arsenal, this is still a top-heavy roster marred by several critical flaws in the D-zone.
So long as the Bruins make a concerted effort toward fighting for inside ice, Toronto’s goalie duo of Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Woll don’t exactly inspire much confidence when it comes to snuffing out Grade-A scoring chances.
The Bruins have generally opted for a “quality over quantity” approach under Jim Montgomery when it comes to shot generation, ranking 26th in the league in 5-on-5 shot attempts per game (54.41) this season — but 11th in 5-on-5 high-danger scoring chances per contest at 11.56.
The Bruins have made it an emphasis this season to converge more bodies toward the net, leading to more rebounds, tips, and the expected chaos that usually leads to 5-on-5 offense during the postseason.
Boston could still use more shot generation from the blue line, but the Bruins have been one of the better teams in the league in terms of orchestrating chances in and around the slot. Adhering to that formula in the playoffs could make life miserable in a hurry for Samsonov and Woll.
“The ice shrinks in the playoffs,” Pat Maroon said Thursday. “There’s not a lot of time and space. … The playoffs are just a heavy game, big, physical, strong on pucks. The willingness to do it every single night. And I think for us, it just comes down to just compete.
“And like I said, win every puck battle. It’s not the flashiest. I think if you go back in time, and where all the goals are scored in the playoffs are probably in front of the net, right?”
The Bruins will need to play a simple, scrappy game in the offensive zone in order to dole out damage against Toronto’s malleable offense. But down the other end of the ice, the Bruins’ D-zone structure needs to remain rigid against a devastating Toronto offense — especially at 5v5 play.
The Maple Leafs’ forward corps is no joke — headlined by star talent like Matthews (69 goals), William Nylander (98 points), Mitch Marner (85 points), and John Tavares (64).
But Toronto is not exactly a run-and-gun club on offense, opting instead to generate a salvo of quality chances from the slot off of an aggressive forecheck. Matthews can laser pucks into twine from just anywhere on the ice, but he did most of his damage this year while camped around the low slot — usually off a slick feed from behind the net.
Even though Boston ranked fifth in the NHL this season in goals against per game (2.
