Bruins need stars to step up against Maple Leafs in Game 7

BEDFORD, Mass. -- The Boston Bruins are looking for answers.

After losing the past two games in the Eastern Conference First Round against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston saw their 3-1 series lead disappear, setting up a Game 7 at TD Garden in Boston on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC).

The biggest emphasis for Boston will come down to how they start the game after struggling to create offense early in Games 5 and 6. Toronto outshot them 11-2 in the first period in a 2-1 overtime win in Game 5 on Tuesday and followed it up with a 12-1 advantage in the first period of a 2-1 win in Game 6 on Thursday.

In the eyes of Bruins coach Jim Montgomery, remedying that starts with playing inside the dots and making themselves a bigger threat to score. However, he's seen a shift in how Toronto has played since it has trailed in the series, and he's surprised his team hasn't matched it.

"I think they have played a simpler game, but I also think that they've been more physical than we have been," Montgomery said. "It's an area of our game that needs to improve."

On Toronto's end, the biggest changes came from the absence of center Auston Matthews and the insertion of Joseph Woll as the starting goalie.

Matthews, who led the NHL with 69 goals this season, scored three points in a 3-1 win in Game 2 on April 22, but exited Game 4 (3-1 loss) before the third period due to illness and has not played since. His status for Game 7 is uncertain.

Woll, meanwhile, replaced Ilya Samsonov in Game 4 and has confounded Boston ever since. The 25-year-old, who played three seasons at Boston College (2016-19), located 10 miles from TD Garden, has a playoff-leading 0.86 goals-against average and a.964 save percentage. Samsonov has a 3.31 GAA and an .883 save percentage.

"When your star player goes out, you got to up your compete, and they've done that," Bruins forward Charlie Coyle said. "Give them credit, they've done that. And that's something we have to do and as we talked about before, finding ways to get to the net, getting that puck through, having bodies in front, taking away [Woll's] eyes. But you just got to will it."

That will start with Boston's top players. Morgan Geekie's goal with one second remaining in Game 6 was the only point from any forward in the Bruins' top six in the past two games.

Montgomery singled out David Pastrnak as someone who needs to "step up," but credited Toronto's effort in locking Boston's key players down, which is another improvement he wants to see in Game 7, especially after Maple Leafs forward William Nylander had two goals in Game 6.

"We have to do a better job of keying on Nylander. Nylander got loose last night,"Montgomery said. "And that's why we need our top players to get loose. … In the last two games, we haven't created enough offense. We haven't won enough foot races. We haven't won enough net battles, and they won battles at our net."

Boston is hoping to avoid the same fate from last season when they set NHL single-season records for wins (65) and points (135) and won the Presidents' Trophy, but lost to the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the first round after holding a 3-1 series lead.

"If someone told us at the start of the season that we’d be [in] Game 7 at home against Toronto, we'd take that all day," Bruins captain Brad Marchand said after Game 6 on Thursday. "So it doesn't matter how you get there. We're there. Gotta show up."