He’s 35 years old, 5-foot-9 and 175 pounds. However, for some reason, the Toronto Maple Leafs can’t stop Brad Marchand. After scoring the winning goal and setting up the insurance goal in the Bruins’ 3-1 Game 4 win, Marchand has five points in his last two games (three goals and two assists) and eight points in the four games played in this series. Say all you want about his antics on the ice and how he gets away with what he does, Marchand has been a force throughout this series.
To make matters worse, the Maple Leafs can’t beat Jeremy Swayman. In the three games he has played against Toronto in the postseason, Swayman has allowed just four foals on 91 shots. He has a 3-0 record with a .956 save percentage and a 1.34 goals-against average (GAA).
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Because they can’t stop Marchand and cannot beat Swayman, the Maple Leafs are trailing three games to one in their first-round series against the Bruins. They cannot afford another loss, which would put them out of the postseason.
The Bruins’ Success on the Penalty Kill Became Obvious
This game started innocuously enough. Neither team was creating much offensively, and neither team managed a shot on net in the game’s first four minutes. Boston then took a penalty for having too many men on the ice. On the opening draw of the Toronto power play, fans saw a sample of what they would see redundantly throughout the game.
Marchand picked up a loose puck in front of his net and slowly skated the puck out of the Boston zone through center ice and into the Toronto zone. He was unchallenged by a single Maple Leafs player. Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly were the two players back for Toronto, and they kept backing off from Marchand until they were in the middle of the Toronto zone. It wasn’t until then that they took a stride forward toward Marchand.
By then, Marchand could take the first shot of the game from the top of the face-off circle to Ilya Samsonov’s right. It wasn’t a difficult shot, and Samsonov steered it into the corner. The first player to the puck in the corner was Marchand. He then skated out of the corner between Matthews and William Nylander before dropping the puck off to Charlie Coyle and heading for the front of the Toronto net. Coyle slipped a backhand pass to Marchand behind the net. Marchand passed the puck to Coyle, who knocked the puck back to Charlie McAvoy at the Boston blue line. McAvoy calmly iced the puck.
By the time Toronto got possession of the puck and worked it into the Boston zone, 46 seconds had passed. Then, the Maple Leafs promptly turned the puck over again and were forced to start again.
That Failed Power Play Became a Microcosm of the Game to Come
The first minute of that first power play was a microcosm of the game and a sign of things to come.
The lack of skating room continued throughout most of the first period. The shots were 5-3 Toronto after 15 minutes of play. Then, as it seems to happen so often with the Maple Leafs, a turnover in their zone ended up in the back of their net. David Kampf won a battle for the puck behind the Toronto net and got it up the boards to Ryan Reaves.
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Instead of chipping the puck up the boards out of the zone, Reaves attempted a cross-ice pass inside his blue line to Matthew Knies. Mason Lohrei managed to get his stick on the pass, deflecting it to John van Riemsdyk in front of the Toronto net. Van Riemsdyk went backhand, forehand, backhand, and shoveled the puck under a sprawling Samsonov into the goal.
The broadcast team captured something on the play they showed in the first intermission. TJ Brodie was involved in the original battle for the puck behind the net. He had knocked Danton Heinen to the ice. Heinen then grabbed Brodie’s stick, which did not allow the Maple Leafs defenseman to get out in front of the net to engage van Riemsdyk. Neither referee saw it, and there was no call on the play.
Second Verse (Period), Same as the First (Period)
The start of the second period was a lot like the first. Neither team had much going until the 7:23 mark when Max Domi took a crosschecking penalty on David Pastrnak. On the power play, the Bruins worked the puck around and set up Marchand for a one-timer just below the faceoff dot to the left of Samsonov. For some reason, Samsonov was way out of his net on the front edge of his crease when the puck came to Marchand. He was in no position even to try to make the save.
With less than a minute to play in the second period, Jake McCabe stepped into the neutral zone to disrupt a stretch pass from Hampus Lindholm. Pavel Zacha got his stick on the pass, deflecting it past McCabe and into the Toronto zone. That left Brodie with a decision. Either advance to play the puck or maintain a defensive posture. Brodie guessed wrong and went for the puck. He was beaten to it by Marchand, who chipped it past Brodie. The play gave Marchand a breakaway from just inside the blue line. Instead of shooting the puck, Marchand waited for Samsonov to commit himself, then dished the puck off to Pastrnak, who was on the other side of the net. Once again, Samsonov was in no position to make the save.
It wasn’t bad enough that the Maple Leafs had to start the third period down 3-0. It was also announced that Matthews would not return to the game. Matthews had been ill the last few days from suspected food poisoning and had not attended any of the practices. Head Coach Sheldon Keefe stated after the game that the Maple Leafs medical staff pulled Matthews from the game in the second intermission.
Toronto also made a goalie change as Joseph Woll replaced Samsonov.
The Maple Leafs Third Period Was Their Best, But Too Late to Matter
The third period was the best period for the Maple Leafs. They out-chanced the Bruins 10-3 at 5-on-5 in the period and played with speed not yet seen in the series. They were able to use that speed to create room on the ice. They could have tied this game up without bad luck and their inability to beat Swayman.
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Mitch Marner got the Maple Leafs on the board at 5:43 on a nice backhand while down on one knee. He was finally able to sweep the puck around Swayman into the net. Just prior, Ilya Lyubushkin beat Swayman with a wrist shot from the deep slot but rang the puck off the crossbar.
After Marner scored, Nylander got in alone on Swayman but could not beat him. Joel Edmundson had two great chances on the same shift but couldn’t get the puck past Swayman.
Once again, the miserable power play showed its ugly head for the Maple Leafs when David Pastrnak was called for slashing Simon Benoit with 5:43 left in regulation. Toronto should have had a two-man advantage when Marner had his stick slashed in half on the opening face-off of the man advantage by guess who? Marchand. (As a note, Marchand has not taken a single penalty in the series.)
Toronto only managed one shot attempt on the power play, a wrist shot by Calle Jarnkrok that went wide of the goal. With Woll on the bench for the last three minutes, the Maple Leafs did create some scoring chances but could not penetrate down low, and the game ended 3-1.
The Series Looks Lost, But Maple Leafs Comebacks Have Happened
The third period might have been the best period the Maple Leafs have played in the series. They used their speed to create open ice and chances. If they want a blueprint to follow to get out of the deep hole they have dug for themselves, this could be it. Marner looked more like himself in the period. He was all over the ice, both with and without the puck.
It is most likely too little too late for the Maple Leafs, but they have come back from being down 3-1 to the Bruins twice before, in 2013 and again in 2018. As a desperate team, fans should expect them to play a much better game in Boston. If they win that game and return to Toronto with some momentum, it is a matter of winning. Last season, the Florida Panthers did exactly that against these same Bruins.
Have fans seen Samsonov’s last game in a Maple Leafs uniform? Expect Woll to get the start in Boston, and it would not be a surprise to see either Martin Jones (or Matt Murray) on the bench as the backup.
What’s Next for the Maple Leafs?
In a strange quirk in the schedule, there are two days between games. Game 5 goes on Tuesday night. That gives Matthews and Nylander an extra day to recover fully. It could also mean fans might see Bobby McMann even though he has yet to participate in a practice.
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TJ Brodie did not have a great game in his return. He was on the ice for both of Boston’s five-on-five goals in the game. While Brodie’s underlying stats were better than Timothy Liljegren’s, they weren’t great. His main partner in the game, Edmundson, put up much better numbers than either Liljegren or Brodie. We can’t see him coming out.
If the Maple Leafs were to bring in Mark Giordano, either Giordano or Edmundson would have to play their off-side. Is there a chance fans might see the right-handed Conor Timmins in Boston?
No matter who is in and out, the task is to win Game 5.
[Note: I want to thank long-time Maple Leafs fan Stan Smith for collaborating with me on this post. Stan’s Facebook profile can be found here.]
