If the Leafs fail to overcome Boston – the place where Toronto seasons go to die – in the first round, it may be the team’s last chance to make a run during the playoffs
Jake DeBrusk of the Boston Bruins, left, battles for the puck against Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on March 4.It is put-up or shut-up time for the Maple Leafs. That certainly could have been said a year ago, or the year before that, but this is most likely the core of the team’s last chance to make a lengthy run during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Toronto lost its final four games and played especially poorly in the last two in Sunrise, Fla., and Tampa. That is easy to dismiss because the team was focused on helping Matthews get to No. 70. Still, it wasn’t a good look. The Maple Leafs played loosey-goosey schoolyard hockey – which is not what they did for the most part as Matthews reached 69.
The Bruins put together another fine season despite losing captain Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci to retirement. But they enter the series struggling a bit as well. Boston lost three of its last four – including a stinker at home against Ottawa, which cost it the Atlantic Division title. Ilya Samsonov is Toronto’s starter and there is no way to predict how he will play. At times he has been great, at others lousy. The best that can be said is that he is erratic. He allowed 11 goals in his past two starts and four or more in five of the past nine. He went 23-7-8 overall but finished with an .890 save percentage.
The intangibles? For Toronto, Boston has become Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Pops up every now and then and haunts everybody.
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