Game 1 in Boston got away from the Toronto Maple Leafs to start their 2018 playoff campaign, and their loss might be two-fold pending the outcome of Nazem Kadri’s hearing with the league on Friday.
Your game in ten:
1. The Bruins coming out and running the Leafs over for the first half of the first period wasn’t unexpected from an elite team playing at home in Game 1 of the playoffs. The Leafs conceded one, but they survived the onslaught in one piece and got a huge bounce-back goal via a spectacular individual effort from Zach Hyman before the end of the first 20.
After a strong first half of the middle frame, and nearly taking the lead through Mitch Marner (who slid one through the blue paint with an empty net), the game unravelled for the Leafs in the second half of the second period. Penalty trouble followed by a missed clearance and lost battle by a gassed Ron Hainsey late in the penalty kill led to the 2-1 David Backes goal. Soon after, a fourth-line defensive zone faceoff matchup against the Bruins’ top line led to the backbreaker goal from David Pastrnak. It was a huge task from there against an elite third-period team in the Bruins, who have rarely sat back on leads all year.
The game then devolved into a bit of a dog’s breakfast for the Leafs, who lost their composure and spent half the third on the penalty kill.
2. In the past two weeks, Mike Babcock has missed two clear challenge opportunities on offsides – one on a clear offside against Florida on March 28th, and another tonight on the 1-0 Boston goal. After he didn’t make the challenge against Florida, Babcock sounded like he was second-guessing the decisions coming from either his assistants or his video guy(s) upstairs due to an earlier unsuccessful goaltending interference challenge against Buffalo:
I don’t like the challenge we made the other night on the goal. I thought it was a bad challenge and didn’t like doing it. I only like challenging it if it’s real [obvious]. The way I look at it: If we go over the video for three minutes or four minutes and you can’t figure out right there and then whether to challenge it, it probably didn’t affect the game very much.
Whatever is going on here, the Leafs‘ coaching staff has to get this sorted. The approach of only challenging on clear offsides knowing it’s now a penalty otherwise is sensible, but the view on Marchand’s trailing skate was pretty clear even just on the initial replays, for anyone paying attention. Babcock – like the rest of us – can dislike the marginal offside challenges all he wants, but it’s a tool at his disposal and this is the postseason.
Between the missed challenge, the too-many-men penalty, and L4 getting caught out for a defensive zone start (not off an icing) against the Bergeron line, the coaching staff will need to be better, like the rest of the team.
3. Zach Hyman, Leo Komarov (the main positive on a rough night for the Leafs penalty kill) and Nazem Kadri (prior to the ejection) were the Leafs’ best forwards tonight. Hyman’s goal was a herculean effort; note that he was charging in off his strong (right) side, where he’s made a number of great net drives before surprising with his skill in tight this year. The Leafs weren’t generating zone time consistently enough over the 60 minutes, but Hyman managed to get a couple of cycles going on his own and worked Zdeno Chara down low a couple of times.
4. Linemates Auston Matthews and William Nylander are going to have to find another level than what was on display tonight. They were last on pucks for most of the game; they’re going to have to get their hands dirty in lieu of stick checks and cute offensive plays. It was no doubt an eye-opening wake-up call: They were handed their lunch to the tune of a 25% CF against the Bruins top line and saw just 12 minutes of ice time at even strength.
5. Whenever it felt like the Leafs were starting to string some shifts together and impose their will on the game, the Marchand/Bergeron line would hop back over the boards and shift the momentum. It looked like the Leafs were on their way to a 2-1 lead early in the second, but a dominant shift from the Bergeron line led to an icing, another o-zone shift for the Bruins, and the Leafs’ rhythm was zapped.
The big question mark coming in was whether the Leafs had an answer for the Bruins top line. The Matthews line and the Rielly-Hainsey pairing are going to need to come up with a response in Game 2 — especially knowing the Leafs will have to win a game on the road if they’re going to win this series, and Kadri might not be available for the next one. Your best players have to be your best players in the playoffs.
6. Nazem Kadri was a total gamer throughout the night — it felt like he was into it with half the Bruins roster at one point or another — and dragged the Leafs into the fight early in this game. His instinct to respond after Marner took an elbow from Wingels along the boards was the right idea. But the hit itself crossed the line and it’s likely going to cost the team at the most important time of year. Knowing Kadri’s history, it’s difficult to see him escaping at least a game on the sidelines. The pretext of Wingel’s clip on Marner isn’t going to save him, and I’m not sure Kadri’s explanation that it happened too fast to react will, either. It appeared Kadri had time to identify Wingels was down and vulnerable, but he still finished the hit, left his feet, and appeared to target the head.
7. My guess is, if Kadri is suspended, Babcock will insert Andreas Johnsson onto the fourth line, push Patrick Marleau into the middle, and move Leo Komarov up onto the line with Marleau and Marner. Alternatively, if Babcock desires a physical element, Matt Martin could go in while Komarov goes up and Marleau over. Nylander is an option at center as well, and might find some more space for himself in the middle coming off of tonight’s struggles, but knowing the game is on the road and it’s playoff time, Babcock leaning on the veteran in Marleau seems like the more likely outcome.
8. If the Leafs are planning to out-depth the Bruins in this series, they’re going to need a lot more than a 11% CF night from Tomas Plekanec. In his 7 minutes and change of 5v5 ice time, the Leafs were outshot 10-0, he lost his man for the back-breaking Pastrnak goal, and he won just four of 10 draws. The one silver lining if Kadri is out is that Johnsson opposite Kapanen did seem to bring the most out of Plekanec in his Leaf tenure so far (not saying a lot) and the L4 as a whole.
Pending the Kadri news, this would leave the lines as (potentially):
Hyman – Matthews – Nylander
Komarov – Marleau – Marner
JVR – Bozak – Brown
Johnsson – Plekanec – Kapanen
9. There is some concern that the whistles going away is going to benefit the Bruins more than the Leafs in this series, but it’s hard for the Leafs to complain when they don’t cash in on their power play opportunities. Special teams decided the game in the first 40 minutes. The Leafs power play looked good for the most part – lots of zone time, they got pucks and bodies to the net, and they generated a number of net front scrambles – but looking good doesn’t cut it in the playoffs. Two Boston power play goals and an 0-for-3 for the Leafs in the first two periods was the hockey game.
10. The Leafs lost Game 1 last year, but it was a considerably more encouraging loss for a team embracing its underdog status, versus a solid beatdown in a year where the expectations are ratcheted up a notch. It’s worth noting the Leafs have responded well whenever they’ve been, in the words of Babcock, smacked around this year. The mission going in was to split the games in Boston, and that goal is still out there in front of the Leafs.
Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts
