With emotions running high and injuries piling up, time is running out for the Maple Leafs.
After dropping a 3-1 decision to the Boston Bruins at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday night 鈥 and losing star centre Auston Matthews in the process 鈥 they’ll face elimination on Tuesday night in Game 5 of their best-of-seven playoff series in Boston.
鈥淣ot a great spot we’re in now, but we just have to keep going,鈥 said Leafs captain John Tavares. 鈥淲e just have to keep believing, keep trusting in each other and find a way to win a game on Tuesday.鈥
They have two days to get healthy and fix whatever is ailing Matthews 鈥 he has routinely been given maintenance days lately.
鈥淚t’s all related to the illness he’s been dealing with,鈥 said Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe. 鈥淗e’s been giving us everything that he has. Ultimately the doctors pulled him.鈥
With or without Matthews, they have two days to regroup. Two days to turn around a moribund power play (1-for-15 this series after an 0-for-4 night). Two days to find a way for their vaunted offence to beat Jeremy Swayman. Two days to sort out the other issues that plague them, like failing to kill penalties and taking needless ones. Two days to figure out how to stop Brad Marchand, who led the Bruins again with a goal and an assist.
鈥淭his game, offensively, was our worst,鈥 said Keefe. 鈥淭he other three, we did a good job to generate enough chances to win and score more than we have. Today, both on power play and at five-on-five, it wasn’t nearly good enough.
鈥淭here are things we’ve got to look at. We’ve got to get Willy (Nylander) going. We’ve got to hope that these couple days are going to help Auston to come back and be himself. As a group, we’ve got to find ways to break through, break free.鈥
Stay the course
The Leafs seemed tight and nervous for two periods. The paying customers were uneasy: eager to cheer early, then eager to boo as the highly paid Ferraris on the ice looked like they were driving through a school zone.
But Keefe said now is not the time to free their high-octane forwards from defensive responsibilities.
鈥淭hat’s not a very good recipe,鈥 said Keefe. 鈥淲e went with it at times in the regular season and it didn’t work out for us. We’ve done a really good job defensively here in this series.鈥
Pointing fingers
Still, seven goals over four games is not close to anyone’s expectations for a Leafs offence that was second best in the regular season.
At one point, late in the second period with Boston up 2-0, cameras caught Matthews, Marner and Nylander seemingly arguing with each other on the bench 鈥斅燤arner ultimately throwing down his gloves in frustration.
Frustration has started to set in for the Maple Leafs stars 馃槧
鈥 Sportsnet (@Sportsnet)
鈥淲e’re not yelling at each other because we hate each other,鈥 said Marner. 鈥淲e just want to be on the same page and help each other out, try to get the best offensive chance. It didn’t work out that one opportunity. Willy, Auston and I talked about it after. We were just trying to make a play and, unfortunately enough, it didn’t happen.鈥
More noise
It was all hands on deck at puck drop, with Nylander back in the lineup as well as defenceman T.J. Brodie, in for the struggling and ailing Timothy Liljegren.
Towel-waving fans gave play-by-play announcer Joe Bowen what he wanted: noise to start the first period. Fans were amped up, although an 8 p.m. Saturday start may lend itself to louder crowds than a mid-week 7 p.m. game.
And while the fans were into it, an early goal would have helped. It didn’t happen. The Bruins, with a familiar face in James van Riemsdyk, scored first.
Not that kind of noise
By the time the second period ended, there really wasn’t a lot to cheer. But there was plenty to boo, and the Leafs were booed off the ice trailing 3-0. They had matched the Bruins hit for hit, but couldn’t generate any offence.
The boo birds are out at Scotiabank Arena as the Leafs went down by three after 40 minutes 馃棧锔
鈥 Sportsnet (@Sportsnet)
馃摵: Sportsnet
馃摬: Stream on Sportsnet+
With Matthews failing to emerge for the third period, and Joseph Woll replacing Ilya Samsonov in net for the final frame, it was the same result.
Marner took Matthews’s place on the top line and scored a beauty: a between-the-legs pass to himself through the slot before waiting for Swayman to fall, then backhanding the puck in from a hard angle.
But the third-period push was a case of too little, too late.
Father’s Day
Leafs defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin was welcomed back by teammates with stick taps and fist pumps at the morning skate following a two-day journey home to Anaheim, Calif. for the birth of his daughter, Stefania.
鈥淪o happy,鈥 said Lyubushkin, who made it in time for the delivery on Thursday. 鈥淢y two boys were crazy, super excited.鈥
McMann update
Forward Bobby McMann remains the only Leaf with an injury lingering from the regular season. 鈥淗e was really building into being a guy that looked like he was going to thrive in this time of year,鈥 said Keefe. 鈥淪o tough to lose him. We certainly miss him. He’s progressing well. We’ll start to see him back on the ice.鈥
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