Budsfan
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Leafs know the formula for burying Bruins, they just have to follow it
Lance HornbyMore from Lance Hornby
Leafs know the formula for burying Bruins, they just have to follow it
The Maple Leafs now hold the shovels.
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Not only could the Leafs take the series in six, they’d do it at home and beat a playoff nemesis which has eliminated them in two dramatic Game 7s at TD Garden. They don’t want to give the Bruins any life to make it three. Babcock and Cup-winners Jake Muzzin and Ron Hainsey are valued assets to keeping the rest of the team from getting ahead of itself — or having swelled heads.
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Another huge step in the maturation process came Friday night. After straying badly from the script in Game 4 at home, most figured that hangover would carry into Beantown and the Bruins would roll over them, physically and offensively. But the Leafs maintained checking discipline, surviving three straight penalties early in the game, moving the puck with authority, while its much maligned blue line putting the clamps on Boston.
The topper was young gun Auston Matthews breaking a scoreless tie and helping with the breakout on the eventual 2-1 winner by Kasperi Kapanen.
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The Leafs are also getting some breaks, which any playoff team needs in such a tight series. While they thought the circumstances leading to Nazem Kadri’s retaliatory cross-check on Jake DeBrusk weren’t taken into account by officials and can’t fathom how their NHL-low regular-season penalty minute total hasn’t translated in these games, the Matthews goal survived a coach’s challenge. They emerged with the win after David Krejci rang the crossbar after Kapanen had missed a short-handed breakaway.
“You want to take care of business on home ice,” Zach Hyman said. “We have to play the right way, like we did (in Game 5).”
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Maple Leafs face Bruins in Game 6 on verge of first series win since 2004
Go for clincher at home not focusing on playoff drought
by Dave McCarthy / NHL.com Correspondent
12:22 AM
Maple Leafs face Bruins in Game 6 on verge of first series win since 2004
TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs will try to win their first Stanley Cup Playoff series in 15 years when they play the Boston Bruins in Game 6 of their best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round series at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVAS, SN).
"I just saw that the other day (that it has been 15 years), I haven't really thought about that much," Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. "It means a lot to be part of a great franchise. I think we're going in the right direction, I think we've been doing that for three years. We have a chance to build a real good program here. This is all part of that process.
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NHL Tonight: Frederik Andersen
- 02:12 • April 19th, 2019
"You don't sit back, that's for sure. You go after it, and it's the toughest game to win because they're desperate all right," Muzzin said. "We have to be just as desperate and hungry, we can't sit back and let them take the game to us. We have to go out and play our game and use the home ice tomorrow as our advantage."
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John Tavares said nobody is looking beyond the first round.
"You have to keep staying with the focus that we've had," Tavares said. "Nothing's been accomplished yet, we have to go out and play well and execute at a high level and leave it all out there. We've been doing a lot of good things and lots of parts of our game have started to come along, but we know we need to get to another level knowing they're going to bring their best."
NHL Tonight: Auston Matthews
- 01:48 • April 19th, 2019
"I'm learning how much hockey means here in Toronto, not that it didn't with my previous team, but it's another level here for sure with the fans in the city," Muzzin said. "Seeing the Square is outside (where fans gather to watch the games), that's just nuts."
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