ECQF: (2) Boston Bruins vs (3) Toronto Maple Leafs | Boston Leads Series 3-2

[Holymakinaw]

the leafs got crushed in game 1.

game 2 was just bad luck. leafs were even the better team in the first period in game 2, despite being outscored 4-0.

Yes.

Even though the score was 4-0 for Boston, the Leafs were the better team that period.

That's right.

 

[Pi]

No disrespect to Leaf fans, but this is the series I'm most surprised about being 2-1 right now.

The way Boston played in the first two games, I was willing to write this series off. Saying this win was huge is an understatement.

Nice job.

Boston and Toronto are both home teams. Everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong for the Leafs in Games 1 and 2.

I think the winner of Game 4 is the winner of the series. If the Leafs win, it's 2-2 and they get Kadri back. Boston hasn't won in Toronto in 2 years. Win Game 5 and they can close it at home.

If Boston wins Game 4 and it's 3-1. That is a tough hill to climb and the series likely ends in 5 or 6 for Boston.

Game 4 might as well be Game 7 for the Leafs.

 

[3rdLiner]

This thread was amazing to read last night. Kadri gets suspended, all the breaks go Boston's way in game 1 and 2. The moment the Leafs get a break that was obviously not intentional by the refs everyone whines there's a big Leaf conspiracy in the NHL. Why was Kadri suspended then?
It's hard to take this place seriously. Especially when people claim the Anaheim Ducks are the most hated NHl team on here

Kadri was suspended because he threw an irredeemable headshot. Not some league conspiracy.

 

[cneely]

Boston and Toronto are both home teams. Everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong for the Leafs in Games 1 and 2.

I think the winner of Game 4 is the winner of the series. If the Leafs win, it's 2-2 and they get Kadri back. Boston hasn't won in Toronto in 2 years. Win Game 5 and they can close it at home.

If Boston wins Game 4 and it's 3-1. That is a tough hill to climb and the series likely ends in 5 or 6 for Boston.

Game 4 might as well be Game 7 for the Leafs.

Even now, the team down 2-1 has to win 3 out of 4.
That's never a great spot to be in. Win game 4, however, and all bets are off. Next game is huge.

 

[Liferleafer]

To those using the shot count at the end of the game as an indicator of the Bruins being the better team last night....here's what you need to know, that's how the Leafs have played all year.

Shots after period 1...12-8 in favor of Toronto.
shots after period 2 24-23 in favor of Boston.

Pretty close....right?
Now here's the info ANY Leaf fan will tell you, when the Leafs head into the 3rd with a lead...they go full "protect the lead" mode....it's a terrible strategy, but it is what it is.

 

[Liferleafer]

Kadri was suspended because he threw an irredeemable headshot. Not some league conspiracy.

Yup...can't argue that.

 

[Loosie]

Uh.......we played our best game of the series so far, for sure. But the Bruins outshot us 42-30 and had some insane chances last night. If Andersen hadn't stood on his head, they could easily have won that game. Andersen was our best player by far.

I'm glad we won. But lets not get silly about it.

How many of those shots came in the dying minutes when Boston was pressing though? After the 2nd period the shots were 24-23 for Boston and they outshot Toronto in the 3rd 18-7. Boston did control the 3rd but Toronto still held them off the scoresheet.

One thing I noticed is that the Leaf defenders were much better at clearing the rebounds and support Andersen last night than either of the first two games.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Boston and Toronto are both home teams. Everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong for the Leafs in Games 1 and 2.

I think the winner of Game 4 is the winner of the series. If the Leafs win, it's 2-2 and they get Kadri back. Boston hasn't won in Toronto in 2 years. Win Game 5 and they can close it at home.

If Boston wins Game 4 and it's 3-1. That is a tough hill to climb and the series likely ends in 5 or 6 for Boston.

Game 4 might as well be Game 7 for the Leafs.

That's a stretch. If Leafs win, it's a 3 game series with Boston still holding home advantage. Hard to see how Boston isn't still favoured in that scenario.

 

[Sensung]

Nothing I saw last night indicates the outcome of this series will change.

Bruins in 5.

 

[Gary Nylund]

How many of those shots came in the dying minutes when Boston was pressing though? After the 2nd period the shots were 24-23 for Boston and they outshot Toronto in the 3rd 18-7. Boston did control the 3rd but Toronto still held them off the scoresheet.

One thing I noticed is that the Leaf defenders were much better at clearing the rebounds and support Andersen last night than either of the first two games.

We were much better in front of the net, no doubt about it!

 

[Pi]

Even now, the team down 2-1 has to win 3 out of 4.
That's never a great spot to be in. Win game 4, however, and all bets are off. Next game is huge.

That fourth game usually clears things up or mucks things up.

3-1 and it would be tough to come back unless we get lucky. 2-2 and it's a best out of three and any team can win with a slight edge to the home team.

 

[93gilmour93]

Nothing I saw last night indicates the outcome of this series will change.

Bruins in 5.

So I guess you didn't watch most of the game

 

[Gary Nylund]

Nothing I saw last night indicates the outcome of this series will change.

Bruins in 5.

Change the outcome? Newsflash - series isn't over yet, you can't change something that hasn't even happened yet.

 

[Liferleafer]

Here's the video of the day....absolute larceny by Andersen...followed by Marchand taking a shot after the whistle....followed by Rielly letting Marchand know that's not gonna happen....followed by Marchand taking a 2 handed swing at Rielly....followed by Marchand getting the Hell out of Dodge so Backes could fight his battle for him. Oh....and i forgot the Marchand slewfoot during the faceoff....

 

[Pi]

That's a stretch. If Leafs win, it's a 3 game series with Boston still holding home advantage. Hard to see how Boston isn't still favoured in that scenario.

They would still be favored because 2/3 would be in Boston but I am just going off based on momentum. If the Leafs win the the two home games, they will feel much more confident going into Game 5 with Kadri.

Boston needs 1 road win, Leafs need the home win and the road win.

I just hope the Leafs don't get complacent. There are still lots of things to improve upon. Leafs gave up some freebies last night that the Bruins whiffed on. Backes had like 3 golden opportunities and he did nothing to earn them, he almost capitalized on soft passes in our own zone.

 

[mashedpotato]

That first goal is a the Leaf's Achilles - they need to either learn how to play without it, or learn to get it because the game cannot be defined by the first goal every game.

Thankfully, the Leafs picked up the first goal of the game yesterday and we saw a completely different team than the first two games'.

 

[missingjibbsclub]

Leafs looked a whole lot faster last night than the Bruins. If they can continue to rip around like that, they could take this thing.

 

[Drytoast]

I'm beginning to think that all of Boston seems to not handle adversity with much grace.

Between Sweeney absolutely freaking out in the press box, and that announcer all but crying because they called the play dead on a powerplay...

Then ya got their GDT thread's withh crazy "don't you dare post here, leaf fans" warnings...lol....wow.

Is this what Montreal has had to deal with all these years???

 

[wintersej]

Uh.......we played our best game of the series so far, for sure. But the Bruins outshot us 42-30 and had some insane chances last night. If Andersen hadn't stood on his head, they could easily have won that game. Andersen was our best player by far.

I'm glad we won. But lets not get silly about it.

I think 42-30 didn't tell the full story. I think that the Leafs were the better team. Narrowly overall. By a lot in some stretches. It was WAY WAY WAY closer to what I was expecting in the series. Two evenly matched clubs with flaws the other can expose having a see-saw battle on a game to game, period to period, shift to shift basis.

VERY curious how the Bergeron line looks in game 4. If they look like they did last night Toronto has a real real real real shot at coming back in this series. If the Bergeron line adjusts... I think Kadri plays one more game before his season is over.

 

[Drytoast]

I think 42-30 didn't tell the full story. I think that the Leafs were the better team. Narrowly overall. By a lot in some stretches. It was WAY WAY WAY closer to what I was expecting in the series. Two evenly matched clubs with flaws the other can expose having a see-saw battle on a game to game, period to period, shift to shift basis.

VERY curious how the Bergeron line looks in game 4. If they look like they did last night Toronto has a real real real real shot at coming back in this series. If the Bergeron line adjusts... I think Kadri plays one more game before his season is over.

You are really focused on Kadri, arnt ya?

The irony here is that Plek for this series is way more important than Kadri is. If Babs is smart Kadri will slot in the 4th or 3rd line allowing Plek the time and space to do his thing.

 

[wintersej]

the leafs got crushed in game 1.

game 2 was just bad luck. leafs were even the better team in the first period in game 2, despite being outscored 4-0.

Oh that might be going a little far, but the score didn't reflect the on ice play, I will grant you.

 

[wintersej]

You are really focused on Kadri, arnt ya?

The irony here is that Plek for this series is way more important than Kadri is. If Babs is smart Kadri will slot in the 4th or 3rd line allowing Plek the time and space to do his thing.

If Kadri comes back the Leafs have a better chance to use their offensive depth. In Boston without getting their preferred line matchups. Its nothing specific about Kadri, could be Marleau for all I care, but Toronto's key to winning the series is the bottom 9 winning the possession battle (to hide the bad D) and scoring goals. Having more good players helps that.

 

[MattySnipes]

They would still be favored because 2/3 would be in Boston but I am just going off based on momentum. If the Leafs win the the two home games, they will feel much more confident going into Game 5 with Kadri.

Boston needs 1 road win, Leafs need the home win and the road win.

I just hope the Leafs don't get complacent. There are still lots of things to improve upon. Leafs gave up some freebies last night that the Bruins whiffed on. Backes had like 3 golden opportunities and he did nothing to earn them, he almost capitalized on soft passes in our own zone.

You make a good point. Personally, IMO I don't feel momentum carries game-to-game (in the playoffs). No doubt though, if they are able to tie the series and then get the addition of Kadri it would be great confidence for them moving forward, especially if Pleks can build off of his Game #3 performance. At this point, the Leafs just have to take it a game at a time without looking too far ahead.

Game #3 could have gone either way honestly, glad we won that game! It was a huge, confidence building win. You've got to expect the Bruins to amp it up for Game #4, which means we have to take it up a gear as well to win, which is positive because I don't think we've played our BEST game yet. With Kadri coming back for Game #5, it bodes well for matchups and being able to ice 4 solid lines in Boston.

 

[Loosie]

For all the worrying about Plekanec being on the 2nd line it worked out really well. The only time that line seemed to have any decent chances were on the PP and in the dying minutes with the net empty.

 

[Drytoast]

For all the worrying about Plekanec being on the 2nd line it worked out really well. The only time that line seemed to have any decent chances were on the PP and in the dying minutes with the net empty.

We traded to get Plek for EXACTLY this role.

Not using him to shut down Berg would be foolish. He just has had Berg's number his whole career. Let him work.

Slot Kadri in 2nd line center if we win the series.