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The Toronto Maple Leafs had a chance to build on a Game 2 road victory and take the lead in their best-of-seven first round series with the Boston Bruins, but once again they could not seize on their opportunities and made critical errors in a 4-2 loss at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.
The Leafs played a physical game against the usually feisty Bruins, but once again lost the special teams battle by a large margin, going 0-for-5 on the power play, and giving up two goals on the man advantage.
“We get to two (goals) tonight. The power play needs to get you one to get you to three if not four,” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “Then it is a good night offensively in the playoffs against an elite defensive team like they are and in the type of game it is. It is a big part of it. The power play has to find ways to get one in.”
The Leafs blaming the officials for the defeat is a loser’s argument. They did get five chances on the man advantage and could not do a thing with any of them.. Should have there not have been a call on John Tavares late in regulation, or Charlie McAvoy for tackling Auston Matthews or Brad Marchand for tripping Tyler Bertuzzi before Trent Frederic’s tying goal…. perhaps…. but on the other end of the spectrum, Max Domi maybe should have been called for bumping into Jeremy Swayman.
Toronto at this point is losing the goaltender battle by a wide margin. Ilya Samsonov played well in the first half of the game, stopping Pavel Zacha and James van Riemsdyk on breakaways, but the short-side tying goal by Frederic was inexcusable and Jake Debrusk’s power-play goal was a combination of Toronto’s weak penalty killing and a rebound left right at the Bruins forward’s feet.
The Leafs have gone 1-7 in their last eight home playoff games, which is a record so pathetic for a team with talent that it boggles the mind. That cannot be blamed on the patrons in the corporate boxes getting to their seats slow. The Scotiabank Arena faithful have a reason to sit on their hands sometimes, because they are waiting for something bad to happen and the ax to fall, which it inevitably does.
Nylander’s absence from the Toronto lineup has to do with a migraine so severe that team doctors tested to see if he suffered a concussion. One of the reasons for the secrecy around his situation is that an actual diagnosis has been hard to come by, whether it is a migraine, a concussion or something else that could affect that area.
Friedman indicated that there is hope that the Leafs second leading scorer will be available on Saturday, but that is far from a guarantee.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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