Bruins-Leafs takeaways: Swayman, DeBrusk shine as B’s win 5-1 in Sport 1 initially appeared on NBC Sports activities Boston
BOSTON — It is a new yr, however the identical Toronto Maple Leafs confirmed up at TD Backyard for Sport 1 of their first-round Stanley Cup Playoff sequence versus the Bruins.
The Bruins swept the four-game common season sequence in opposition to the Leafs, and so they opened Spherical 1 with a formidable 5-1 win Saturday evening.
Boston broke the sport open within the second interval with three targets to extend its result in 4-0. That was an excessive amount of of a deficit to beat, even for a high-powered offensive group just like the Leafs.
The celebrities of the sport for the Bruins had been Jake DeBrusk and Jeremy Swayman. DeBrusk scored twice on the facility play and Swayman made 35 saves.
Brandon Carlo, John Beecher and Trent Frederic (empty internet) additionally scored for Boston.
The Bruins have not trailed for a single second in opposition to the Leafs this season, and the final time Toronto received at TD Backyard was March 29, 2022.
Sport 2 is Monday evening at TD Backyard with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. However earlier than we look forward to that matchup, listed below are three takeaways from Bruins-Leafs Sport 1.
Fourth line makes a robust affect
The Bruins used a John Beecher-Jesper Boqvist-Pat Maroon fourth line to begin the sequence, and this trio performed very properly.
It made a right away affect offensively when Beecher opened the scoring along with his first profession playoff objective simply 2:26 into the interval. Beecher took a pleasant feed from Boqvist on a 2-on-1 rush and beat Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov.
Boqvist and Maroon each earned assists on the play.
Not lengthy after the objective, Maroon completely leveled Timothy Liljegren with a large hit that despatched the Leafs defenseman flying into the Bruins’ bench.
Maroon threw his weight round early and infrequently. The 6-foot-3, 234-pound ahead was credited with six hits. The fourth line as an entire mixed for 10 hits and constantly made the Leafs work to ascertain inside ice. Total, Boston was the extra bodily group in Sport 1, and the fourth line led the cost.
The Leafs got here into this sequence with higher scoring depth than the Bruins. Toronto scored the second-most targets of any group within the common season and owned the seventh-best energy play. The Bruins want their bottom-six to make an affect offensively to match the Leafs’ firepower. Thus far, so good for the B’s in that regard.
Bruins win particular groups battle
Particular groups typically performs a pivotal function within the playoffs, and that was the case in Sport 1.
The Bruins energy play struggled on the finish of the common season with a ten.5 % success price over the ultimate two weeks, which ranked thirtieth out of 32 groups throughout that span. Boston’s energy play discovered its groove once more Saturday with two targets, each scored by DeBrusk within the second interval.
The Bruins now have 5 power-play targets in 5 video games versus the Leafs this season, together with Sport 1. It would not be shocking if the Bruins continued to reap the benefits of the facility play as a result of the Leafs will not be a great penalty killing group. Toronto’s PK ranked twenty third within the common season.
The Leafs’ energy play ranked No. 7 with a 24 % success price within the common season, however the unit wasn’t capable of money in on any of its three alternatives in Sport 1. Not solely did the Leafs fail to attain with the person benefit, they didn’t generate a single shot or scoring probability in these minutes.
The Leafs haven’t any probability to win this sequence if the Bruins win the particular groups battle by such a lopsided margin.
Swayman shines in internet
The Bruins determined to offer Jeremy Swayman his first profession Sport 1 begin, and the 25-year-old goaltender performed implausible.
He made 11 saves within the first interval, together with a wonderful left pad cease on a Grade A scoring probability within the low slot. Beecher put the B’s forward 1-0 just some minutes later.
Swayman was even higher within the second interval, making 13 saves, together with a pair clutch stops throughout a Leafs energy play early within the body.
In whole, Swayman made 35 saves on 36 pictures. The Leafs did handle to get one previous Swayman early within the third interval when David Kampf obtained his group on the board. Except for that, it was a reasonably flawless outing for Swayman, who earned his fourth profession playoff win.
It will be attention-grabbing to see if the Bruins use a goalie rotation on this sequence and begin Linus Ullmark in Sport 2. The B’s loved lots of success utilizing a rotation throughout the common season. That stated, Swayman is now 4-0-0 with a .973 save share in 4 matchups versus the Leafs this season. It is perhaps arduous to take Swayman out of the online with these numbers.
