Follow the bear tracks and it becomes obvious why the Bruins and Maple Leafs are separated by 11 points in the standings.
That stated, Toronto has been as tough on the Bruins as any opponent, splitting two games to date, one-goal decisions that if not for a late-night meltdown at TD Garden a couple of weeks ago would have the Leafs two points closer today.
Everything the Leafs take pride in, the Bruins seem to do a bit better. While Mitch Marner is a one-man penalty killing dynamo, the Leafs as a whole are 16th overall. John Tavares is as good as ever in the dots at 58.4%, but Patrice Bergeron is 61.2%. William Nylander is hot, countryman David Pastrnak is blazing. Michael Bunting is a pest, Brad Marchand is the Tasmanian Devil with a psychological edge.
The Leafs did get a power play goal in Boston and their penalty kill is at better than 80% the past 10 games, making their middle-of-the-pack status a bit of an aberration. Leaf sniper Auston Matthews will miss the game with his sprained knee, while the opposing goalies will be Ilya Samsonov for Toronto and likely Linus Ullmark for Boston.
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