Need to Know: Round 1 | Bruins-Maple Leafs

BOSTON – Charlie McAvoy said it best.

Here we go again.

For the fourth time in the last 12 seasons and 17^th time in history, the Bruins and Maple Leafs will do battle in the postseason when they meet in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday night at TD Garden.

“I can't wait,” said McAvoy. “It's the best time of the year, and this is what you play for. Here we go again. It's going to be fun. It's always a good series when play these guys. They're, obviously, an outstanding franchise. And there's a lot of history between the two of us.

“It's just exciting…even more so than it is in the regular season. It's time to go to work and it's all business here.

“We have an expectation for our group. We get to start this journey [Saturday].”

McAvoy said that the hope is the Bruins have learned from the adversity they faced throughout the regular season, one that had them finish second in the Atlantic Division with a 47-20-15 record and 109 points. In contrast with their historic campaign of a year ago – during which they compiled a record-setting 65 wins and 135 points – the 2023-24 season provided plenty of teaching moments.

“I don't think there's any question. There was a different regular season last year,” said McAvoy. “When you have unmatched success in terms of being the best regular-season team ever – obviously didn't go through too many particularly difficult times during the regular season.

“I would say that's not the case this year. We had a great regular season, but it wasn't without its own trials…different group, different expectations, different regular season, a couple of different things, but definitely different from last year.

“I think that adversity helps. Absolutely.”

Coach Jim Montgomery said his players “seem to be more in the moment this year.”

“Internally, [the environment] changes,” Montgomery said of how things ramp up once the postseason arrives. “There’s more urgency in what we’re doing. You can tell the practice pace both days was tremendous – second and third effort was there naturally.

“The urgency of trying to get done what you need to get done to be ready for [Saturday] night. That’s the exciting part. It’s why you want to be part of the NHL is to play these games. The excitement level is high.”

All Lined Up

Based on Friday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena, here’s how the Bruins are projected to line up for Game 1 on Saturday night:

FORWARDS

Brad Marchand – Charlie Coyle – Jake DeBrusk

Danton Heinen – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak

Jakub Lauko – Morgan Geekie – Trent Frederic

Johnny Beecher – Jesper Boqvist – Pat Maroon

James van Riemsdyk

DEFENSEMEN

Hampus Lindholm – Charlie McAvoy

Matt Grzelcyk – Brandon Carlo

Kevin Shattenkirk – Andrew Peeke

Mason Lohrei – Parker Wotherspoon

GOALIES

Jeremy Swayman/Linus Ullmark

Montgomery would not reveal his starting goaltender for Game 1 or how he intends on deploying the former Jennings Trophy-winning duo throughout the series.

“We have decided, but we’re not sharing it with you guys,” Montgomery said following Friday's practice. “I think Donny [Sweeney] explained it great [on Thursday]. We’ve got two great goaltenders. Our entire group is very comfortable with either one. Performance is going to dictate a lot of how we move forward.”

Boston's bench boss stayed consistent following Saturday's morning skate, saying "one of the guys in pads" would start in goal.

Matt Grzelcyk was briefly hurting after blocking a shot during Friday’s practice, though he stayed on the ice and finished the session. The blue liner was fine following the skate, so much so that Montgomery even made a quip about the BU alum.

“Grzelcyk’s fine. He blocked a shot, hit his shin pad,” said Montgomery. “If he was a Black Bear, he would’ve got up right away. But he’s a Terrier so he sat on the ice for a little while.”

Mason Lohrei was returned to Providence on Saturday morning. "He’s playing in Providence today. We wanted eight defensemen for practice [on Friday]," said Montgomery.

Opposing View

The Maple Leafs finished third in the Atlantic Division with 102 points, seven behind the Bruins. Toronto boasts a potent offensive attack, having ranked second in the league in goals per game (3.67) and seventh on the power play (24.0%). On the defensive side, Toronto allowed 3.18 goals per game, ranking 21st in the NHL. They were tied with the Predators for 22nd on the penalty kill at 76.9%.

“Offensively, they're a gifted hockey club,” said Bruins GM Don Sweeney. “They present a lot of challenges down around the net front area, and we're going to have to be really sharp there. We’re a pretty good team defensively when we stick to what our principles are, so I expect it to be a tight series overall.

“Obviously, their power play is really good, our penalty killing has been pretty consistent throughout the year, our power play needs to come back online here. Fortunately, we scored a goal the other night to hopefully give the guys a little bit of confidence.

“It’s going to be a really good challenge on all levels. A good hockey club, a good opponent. If you if you've made it to the playoffs, you've earned a right here… and Toronto will present a really good challenge.”

Toronto is paced by its talented core group of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and Morgan Rielly. Matthews led the NHL with 69 goals this season, one shy of becoming the first player to hit 70 since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny in 1992-93. His 107 points ranked sixth in the league, three points back of Pastrnak.

“A lot of skill, a lot of skill and a lot of compete,” McAvoy said of Matthews. “And it's going to be a big challenge for us moving forward.”

Nylander, meanwhile, ranked 10^th in the NHL in scoring with 98 points (40 goals, 58 points), though he missed Toronto’s practice on Friday and his status for Game 1 is in question, per media reports. Marner was 22^nd with 85 points (26 points, 59 assists). Tavares finished fourth on the Maple Leafs in scoring with 65 points (29 goals, 36 assists) and Rielly fifth with 58 points (7 goals, 51 assists).

Former Bruins forward Tyler Bertuzzi ranked seventh in team scoring with 43 points and fifth in goals with 21.

“We can't turn pucks over and force plays,” said Bruins winger Pat Maroon. “We can't let them get in the transition game. They do a good job behind the nets and soft plays, so we’ve got to find ways to limit that, limit their time and space and be harder on their skills guys, and find ways to just limit their time.”

Toronto’s Friday practice lineup:

FORWARDS

Tyler Bertuzzi – Auston Matthews – Max Domi

Matthew Knies – John Tavares – Mitch Marner

Nick Robertson – Pontus Holmberg – Calle Jarnkrok

Connor Dewar – David Kampf – Ryan Reaves

Noah Gregor

DEFENSEMEN

Morgan Rielly – Ilya Lybushkin

Simon Benoit – Jake McCabe

Joel Edmundson – Timothy Liljegren

Mark Giordano – T.J. Brodie

Cade Weber – Connor Timmins

GOALIES

Ilya Samsonov

Joseph Woll

Goalie Ilya Samsonov carried the baton goal with a 23-7-8 record, .890 save percentage and 3.13 goals against average in 40 games. Joseph Woll was 12-11-1 with a .907 save percentage and 2.94 GAA in 25 games.

“I think both teams are very energetic,” said B’s blue liner Brandon Carlo. “We obviously both have a lot of passion being Original Six teams…the way we come into it with the mindset of it’s gonna be a physical series at different points, it’s gonna be a skilled series at different points, it’s gonna be a gritty series. There’s gonna be little components of each part. I think whoever can adjust to the other team’s playing style the best is gonna come out of this and be victorious.”

This Season

The Bruins won all four regular-season meetings against the Toronto in 2023-24. Pastrnak led Boston with seven points (two goals, five assists) against the Leafs. DeBrusk chipped in six points (two goals, four assists), while Marchand tallied five points (goal, four assists). Zacha paced Boston with three goals against Toronto.

Swayman started three of the four games against Toronto and was 3-0-0 with a .959 save percentage and 1.30 goals against average.

Matthews led Toronto with four points (three goals, assists) in four games against the Bruins.

“Playoffs are completely different,” said Montgomery. “I think one time we caught them on a back-to-back so that was favorable for us. Both teams are gonna be evenly rested throughout the series. I think we’ve got to be aware of our top-end forwards. You’ve got to stay over top of them. We can’t give up odd-man rushes and we’ve got to make them defend. Probably the same thing they’re saying about us.”

Nov. 2 at BOS - Bruins 3, Maple Leafs 2 (SO) – Boston extended its record season-opening point streak to 10 games behind goals from Zacha and DeBrusk, who also scored in the shootout as did Coyle. Swayman made 33 saves in the win.

Dec. 2 at TOR - Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 3 (OT) – Marchand, just a day after the passing of his grandmother, scored the winner with eight seconds left in overtime. Matthews had tied the game with his second of the night with just six seconds remaining in regulation. Ullmark made 27 saves for the victory.

March 4 at TOR - Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 1 – Zacha scored twice, while DeBrusk and Geekie added goals of their own. Swayman made 32 saves in goal.

March 7 at BOS - Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 1 – On a night when Boston celebrated the 2011 Stanley Cup champions with the final Centennial Era Night, Pastrnak, Frederic, Geekie, and Carlo scored for Boston, while Marchand and DeBrusk tallied two assists apiece. Swayman made 28 stops for his third win of the year vs. the Maple Leafs.

“It means nothing,” Marchand said of the B’s regular-season success against Toronto. “They’ve changed since the deadline. They’re playing really well. At playoff time, everything changes. It’s a clean slate for every team. It doesn’t matter where you finish, how you did in the regular season, it’s over and done with. It all begins again.”

Last Postseason Meeting

The Bruins and Maple Leafs have a long and storied postseason history and their last meeting in 2019 was as memorable as any with a third consecutive seven-game series between the clubs.

Boston overcame a 3-2 series deficit with wins in Games 6 and 7. The Bruins took the decisive seventh game, 5-1, on tallies from Joakim Nordstrom, Marcus Johansson, and Sean Kuraly, and empty-netters from Coyle and Patrice Bergeron.

The victory set the tone for Boston’s run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Marchand leads the Bruins with 21 career postseason points (7 goals, 14 assists) against Toronto, which ranks fourth in Bruins history. Pastrnak is fifth with 19 points (7 goals, 12 assists) in 14 games.

Marner has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 14 career postseason games vs. Boston, which ranks as the fourth-most in Maple Leafs history.

“It’s great. Being here the last eight years, I feel very fortunate to have had some series against them that have gone our way,” said Carlo. “It’s been a lot of fun those series, a lot of high energy. There’s a lot of attention around it. It’s great. I think it’s a good challenge for us. They’re obviously a high-caliber offensive team. It will be fun to challenge myself defensively and go from there and do as best I can out there to help our group win.”

All-Time Playoff Record

The Bruins are 8-8 in 16 previous series against the Maple Leafs, with Boston holding a 42-40-1 record over 83 games. Nine of the meetings came before 1950 and all but one before 1974.

The teams have met once in the Stanley Cup Final, Boston's 4-1 series victory in 1939 for their second Stanley Cup title.

2019 First Round – Boston 4, Toronto 3

2018 First Round - Boston 4, Toronto 3

2013 First Round - Boston 4, Toronto 3


1974 Quarterfinals - Boston 4, Toronto 0

1972 Quarterfinals - Boston 4, Toronto 1


1969 Quarterfinals - Boston 4, Toronto 0


1959 Semifinals - Boston 3, Toronto 4


1951 Semifinals - Boston 1, Toronto 4


1949 Semifinals - Boston 1, Toronto 4

1948 Semifinals - Boston 1, Toronto 4


1941 Semifinals - Boston 4, Toronto 3

1939 Stanley Cup Final - Boston 4, Toronto 1


1938 Semifinals - Boston 0, Toronto 3


1936 Quarterfinals - Boston 1, Toronto 1 (Maple Leafs won series on goal differential, 11-3)

1935 Semifinals - Boston 1, Toronto 3

1933 Semifinals - Boston 2, Toronto 3

Fun Facts

• Ralph “Cooney” Weiland played the final game of his Hall-of-Fame career on Apr. 16, 1939, as the Bruins clinched their second Stanley Cup championship with a 3-1 win over Toronto.
• Game 2 of the 1951 semifinals series between these teams ended in a 1-1 tie so that Maple Leaf Gardens could be cleared of patrons by midnight due to a Toronto law in effect that placed an 11:45 p.m. curfew on sporting events. It is the last tie in Bruins playoff history.
• The Bruins' 10-0 win over Toronto on Apr. 2, 1969 in Game 1 of their quarterfinals series stands as their largest margin of victory in a playoff game and is tied for the most goals that they have scored in a playoff game (Boston defeated St. Louis by a 10-2 score on Apr. 20, 1972). The Bruins also set a club record with six power-play goals in that win. The game was delayed when fans smashed the glass partition separating the penalty box from the seating area while pelting Toronto's Pat Quinn, who was serving a five-minute major penalty for elbowing Bobby Orr.
• Phil Esposito set a club record for points in a game and recorded the only four-goal playoff game in team history with four goals and two assists in the 10-0 victory.
• The Bruins became the first team in NHL history to win a Game 7 when trailing by three goals in the third period of that game when they defeated the Maple Leafs on May 13, 2013. Boston trailed Toronto, 4-1, at the 9:18 mark of the third period when Nathan Horton scored to start the comeback. Milan Lucic (18:38) and Patrice Bergeron (19:09) scored to tie the game with Tuukka Rask pulled for an extra attacker, before Bergeron won it  at 6:05 of overtime.
• Pastrnak tied an NHL record for most points in the first two games of a postseason with 4-5–9 totals in Games 1 and 2 of last year’s first-round series vs. Toronto. That included tying a club record for points in a playoff game with 3-3–6 totals in Game 2 of that series. He also became the youngest player in NHL history (21 years, 324 days) to record six points in a playoff game, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s previous mark of 22 years, 81 days.
• The Bruins trailed Toronto by a 4-3 score after the second period in game seven of their 2018 Round One series but scored four unanswered goals in the third period to take the game seven victory by a 7-4 final.

Series Schedule

Game 1: Saturday, April 20 at 8 p.m. ET (TD Garden, Boston, MA) - NESN, TBS, truTV, MAX SN, CBC, TVAS

Game 2: Monday, April 22 at 7 p.m. ET (TD Garden, Boston, MA) – NESN, ESPN, SN, CBC, TVAS

Game 3: Wednesday, April 24 at 7 p.m. ET (Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON) – NESN, ESPN, SN, CBC, TVAS

Game 4: Saturday, April 27 at 8 p.m. ET (Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON) – NESN, TBS, truTV, MAX, SN, CBC, TVAS

*Game 5: Tuesday, April 30 at TBD (TD Garden, Boston, MA) - TBD – if necessary

*Game 6: Thursday, May 2 at TBD (Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON) - TBD – if necessary

*Game 7: Saturday, May 4 at TBD (TD Garden, Boston, MA) - TBD – if necessary

All Bruins' playoff games can be heard on the Bruins flagship radio station, 98.5 The Sports Hub.