BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs will renew their Stanley Cup Playoffs rivalry at TD Garden on Saturday. This will be the fourth playoff series between the two teams in the past 11 years; the first three were all won by the Bruins.
Boston and Toronto faced each other most recently in 2018 and 2019 postseasons, with each Bruins victory in seven games in the first round. And this regular season, Boston has won all four matchups.
But each rival is throwing all that out.
“That means nothing,” Bruins captain Brad Marchand said.
Boston is kicking off a revenge tour of sorts, having lost in the first round last season in disappointing fashion after a historic regular season.
Toronto is looking to take another step after winning in the opening round last season, when it defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning for its first series win since 2004.
The Bruins (47-20-15) lost three of four games to end the regular season following a four-game winning streak. They went 24-11-6 at home this season. The Maple Leafs (46-26-10) lost their final four games of the season (0-3-1) after going 6-1-0 in their previous seven. They went 24-11-6 on the road this season.
Here are 3 keys for Game 1:
1. Who’s in net?
All season, Boston has alternated between goalies Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, and it has worked. But it’s rare for a team to go with a true goalie rotation in the playoffs. Still, the option remains on the table for the Bruins, who have not named their starter for Game 1.
Asked who would start, Boston coach Jim Montgomery said only, “One of the guys wearing pads.”
Ullmark finished the season 22-10-7 with a 2.57 goals-against average, .915 save percentage and two shutouts in 40 games (39 starts). Swayman was 25-10-8 with a 2.53 GAA, .916 save percentage and three shutouts in 44 games (43 starts).
“I’ll sum it up in the fact that we’re very confident in our goaltending,” general manager Don Sweeney said. “I think it’s been a strength of our hockey club for certainly the past two years. The noise that goes on outside is not necessarily felt as much inside as what people may believe, because our goalies know what the plan is. They know what their strengths are for our hockey club and how much we rely on them. And performance and results will dictate some of this, but we know what the plan is going in, and so do they, and we’re comfortable with it.”
2. Auston vs. Boston
Though Auston Matthews didn’t quite get to 70 goals this season -- he finished the regular season with an NHL-leading 69 -- the Maple Leafs center is just one offensive superstar on a team full of them. So Toronto, which was second in the League during the regular season with 3.63 goals for per game, will be looking for its offense to continue to hum.
If the Maple Leafs can get a jump -- say, by Matthews scoring early -- the Bruins could have a hard time catching up because they can't match their opponent goal-for-goal. And if forward William Nylander can’t play because of an undisclosed injury -- his status is uncertain for Game 1 -- Matthews becomes even more important.
“The sky’s the limit. He’s shown that,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “He’s playing well, feeling good. If anything, the fact that it’s a quick turnaround, right into the playoffs here, should benefit someone like Auston, who’s been such a great groove and feeling good.”
3. Can Bruins power up?
Boston's power play hasn’t exactly been so powerful of late, but attempts are being made to change that. At practice Friday, Marchand and defenseman Charlie McAvoy were on the second unit, and defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk was quarterbacking the first, a change that began during a 6-4 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 13.
“I always think you leave your top unit together, but it was too much of a prolonged time where I think they were stale mentally,” Montgomery said. “It didn’t matter who had the puck. There was no movement. There was no purpose to what we were doing. We were fading away from the net instead of converging towards the net. And both units today were converging towards the net. I’m just happy with the pace of the power play.”
The Bruins, who were 14th in the NHL with a 22.2 percent power play this season, ended going 3-for-32, scoring almost as many short-handed goals (two) as power-play goals in that span.
Maple Leafs projected lineup
Tyler Bertuzzi -- Auston Matthews -- Max Domi
Matthew Knies -- John Tavares -- Mitch Marner
Nicholas Robertson -- Pontus Holmberg -- William Nylander
Connor Dewar -- David Kampf -- Ryan Reaves
Morgan Rielly -- Ilya Lyubushkin
Simon Benoit -- Jake McCabe
Joel Edmundson -- Timothy Liljegren
Ilya Samsonov
Joseph Woll
Scratched: Martin Jones, Noah Gregor, TJ Brodie, Conor Timmins, Mark Giordano, Cade Webber
Injured: Bobby McCann (lower body), Calle Jarnkrok (hand)
Bruins projected lineup
Danton Heinen -- Pavel Zacha -- David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand -- Charlie Coyle -- Jake DeBrusk
Jakub Lauko -- Morgan Geekie -- Trent Frederic
John Beecher -- Jesper Boqvist -- Pat Maroon
Hampus Lindholm -- Charlie McAvoy
Matt Grzelcyk -- Brandon Carlo
Kevin Shattenkirk -- Andrew Peeke
Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swayman
Scratched: James van Riemsdyk, Parker Wotherspoon
Injured: Justin Brazeau (upper body), Derek Forbort (undisclosed)
Status report
Nylander will be a game-time decision; Keefe had no update on his status after the morning skate Saturday. ... Samsonov was the first goalie off the ice following the skate and is expected to start. ... Jarnkrok practiced Friday for the first time since he was placed on long-term injured reserve March 16; the forward's status for Game 1 is undetermined. … Brazeau, a forward, is week to week, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said.
NHL.com independent correspondent Joe Pohoryles contributed to this report
