(Illustration by Sophie Baron / CBC)
Monday Game 3 preview: Boston Bruins at Toronto Maple Leafs
Bruins’ David Pastrnak tough test for Morgan Rielly and Leafs’ defence once again at Air Canada Centre.
Monday Game 3 preview: Boston Bruins at Toronto Maple Leafs | The Star
Boston’s David Pastrnak sheds Leaf defenceman Jake Gardiner along the boards in Game 2, in which Pastrnak racked up six points. (Winslow Townson / AP)
By
Mark ZwolinskiSports Reporter
Sun., April 15, 2018
AIR CANADA CENTRE
FACEOFF: 7 p.m.
TV: CBC
RADIO: Sportsnet 590 The FAN
KEY PLAYERS
Pastrnak/Rielly
Defenceman
Morgan Rielly has been on the ice for far too many Bruins goals through the first two games of this series. He watched Bruins sniper
David Pastrnak score two of his three goals Saturday night in Boston. Rielly and the rest of the Leafs defence haven’t been physical enough, allowing Pastrnak and linemates
Patrice Bergeron and
Brad Marchand ample room to do damage. The line has 20 points in two games — 14 in Game 2 alone, with Pastrnak racking up six of his nine to date. That tied Phil Esposito’s record for points after two games in a playoff series.
NEED TO KNOW
The Leafs’ second defensive pair of
Jake Gardiner and
Nikita Zaitsev was on the ice for the first four goals against in Game 2 ... Leafs offensive leaders
Auston Matthews,
Mitch Marner and
James van Riemsdyk have accounted for just three points combined. Matthews is pointless and minus-2 ... Leafs goalie
Freddie Andersen has allowed eight goals in less than four periods.
UP NEXT
Game 4, Thursday at Air Canada Centre, 7 p.m.
Can coach Mike Babcock emulate Pat Burns and '93 Leafs?
Lance HornbyMore from Lance Hornby
Can coach Mike Babcock emulate Pat Burns and ’93 Leafs?
BOSTON — Hammered in its first two playoff road games, his stars stymied, fans in a flap and the media sharpening their knives, the coach of the Maple Leafs called a meeting, called out some players and they bounced back to make the conference final.
What worked for Pat Burns 25 years ago this week might not apply to Mike Babcock’s younger Buds. But with dire numbers confronting the 2018 Leafs — 20 points by Boston’s big line and only an 11.3% chance of recovery based on other NHL teams in 0-2 holes, it’s worth noting the 1993 club recovered its regular season mojo just in time, the last Leaf team to rally in that circumstance.
“If we believe we’re beat then we are beat,” the late Burns growled after his group schlepped home from Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, soundly beaten 6-3 and 6-2. “One thing we’ve got to do is stop listening to everything.”
Much of that was repeated at the MasterCard Centre on Sunday. The night before, at TD Garden, defenceman Nikita Zaitsev expressed similar thoughts after a 7-3 loss brought the Leafs to a 12-4 goal differential. “This is serious. You’re not allowed to show the other team you’re done.”
Reprising the role of criticized captain Wendel Clark in ‘93 is captain-in-waiting Auston Matthews. He had points in nine straight games at the end of the regular season and seemed ready to take another step in playoffs. So far, he’s shooting blanks, denied by a combination of Patrice Bergeron’s line and the seawall of defenceman Zdeno Chara and goalie Tuukka Rask.
“We need to re-group and take a deep breath,” Matthews said Saturday. “We have to be way more disciplined. They’re getting way too many power plays, we’re not (generating) enough.”
Like the ‘93 Leafs who won the next two games on home ice, beat Detroit in seven and got within a win of the Cup final, Toronto needs to maximize its Air Canada Centre advantage. It won a franchise record 29 at home, including two one-goal decisions over Boston.
“That’s going to mean a lot,” Matthews said. “That starts Monday.”
These Leafs don’t have Doug Gilmour, a rough n’ ready defence or the veteran presence Burns leaned on 25 years ago. But they’d better develop their own chemistry, or be cleaning out their lockers on Friday.