BOSTON—The sample size is small, even if the games have been big. But in a season that has seen the Maple Leafs prove unpredictable, this much has been money. Put a division rival on the ice, and they’ve almost always come to play.
The latest case in point came in Tuesday’s 6-4 win over the Bruins, a top-to-bottom outclassing of a Boston club that has been the hottest team in the league over the past six weeks. While the month of March has seen the Leafs mail in losses to the bottom-dwelling likes of the Coyotes, Canadiens and Sabers (twice), the victory at TD Garden was their second straight triumph over a top-four Atlantic team after Sunday’s 5- 2 wins over East-leading Florida. Add up Toronto’s cumulative record against the Bruins, Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning so far this season and you get an impressive 4-1-0. Not that they’re done with that tricky triumvirate. The remaining 16 games of the schedule will see them play Boston once more and Florida and Tampa twice each on the road.
Still, given Toronto and Boston came into Tuesday’s game tied for third in the Atlantic with identical records — and given the Leafs led by as much as 6-1 until they limped to the finish with an injury-depleted blue line — the two points loomed large. Head coach Sheldon Keefe described his team’s performance as “complete.”
“It obviously shows a level of respect we have for these opponents,” Keefe said before the game. “If I have my choice it would be to be great all the time, to be consistent with our effort and our approach and all of that. Certainly these are the types of games (against top in-division opponents) that you want to be great in.”
In a building where the Leafs have suffered some difficult losses, Tuesday saw the home team looking for answers in the wake of a disappointment. Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said his players “weren’t ready to play.” Bruins forward Curtis Lazar said the Leafs gave the Bruins a “lesson.”
“They were more hungry tonight,” Lazar told reporters.
The win, mind you, came at a cost. The first period wasn’t half over when starting goaltender Petr Mrázek, whose nightmarish debut season in Toronto has already seen him miss time with groin injuries on two separate occasions, left the game with what the team described as a groin injury. Erik Källgren came in to relieve him capably enough. The silver lining for the Leafs is that Jack Campbell, who took part in Tuesday’s morning skating, looks to be close to returning after being out three weeks with a rib injury.
“You see that, it’s tough,” Keefe said. “Petr’s been getting some traction and playing well.”
And the final buzzer didn’t sound until the Leafs had been reduced to four defensemen for the game’s latter half. Blueliner Justin Holl left the ice with blood splattered on his visor late in the second period after he took a point-blank Derek Forbort shot in the helmet while protecting the Toronto crease. In another incident, defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin fell to the ice after absorbing a gloved shot to the head from behind by Boston’s Taylor Hall, who took exception to an earlier hit from Lyubushkin. Holl and Lyubushkin didn’t return for the third period for what the club termed “precautionary reasons.”
Given how Keefe spoke before the game of his continuing search for chemistry on lines two through four, the evening came with plenty of performances that had to please the bench boss.
The coach had to be delighted to see Tuesday night’s opening goal scored by Colin Blackwell, the Harvard alum who was making his debut as Toronto’s fourth-line centreman, this with the incumbent at that position, Jason Spezza, playing a wing opposite Kyle Clifford. Keefe has been in the market for a fourth-line spark for a while. And there it was.
“The dynamic of the line gave us the response we were looking for,” Keefe said. “They were on the forecheck a lot. Scored us a huge goal early in the game… I liked the line today, for sure.”
It could only be seen as a good thing that Morgan Rielly scored the goal that made it 2-1 on a backboards rebound created by a forceful William Nylander rush to the net. Saturday’s loss in Montreal saw Nylander demoted from the second line. And after Sunday’s win over the Panthers, Nylander remained on the third line with centreman David Kämpf and winger Pierre Engvall for Tuesday’s game.
Toronto’s load-carrying big boys also did their part. Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner both scored goals, Matthews registering his 49th of the season after setting up Marner’s 28th. But lineup balance was the story of the blowout. Alex Kerfoot scored on a brilliant breakaway deke to make it 3-1 before the first intermission.
“It was a pretty complete game out of us. Didn’t give them much light there,” said Kerfoot.
Even the defensive-minded Kämpf scored a goal, his first in more than a month.
“If we can get three lines really going, then all the better. Four would be best. That’s really what our goal is,” Keefe said. “Florida. Boston. Those are the hallmarks of the top teams is that they’ve got four lines that can really go.”
Not that the coach wouldn’t appreciate his team arriving at the opening faceoff a tad more focused against lesser teams.
“It’s something you want to have all the time. We don’t want to be just a team that responds to the schedule. We want to be a team where that’s just who we are,” Keefe said. “But I think every team in the league has their moments against teams that are lower in the standings and such.”
If almost every team is wont to pick its spots, at least Toronto is showing up for big wins over big rivals.
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