The Toronto Maple Leafs needed to come away with the win in Game 2 to head home with a chance to take a 2-1 series lead. Unfortunately, despite tying the series up in Boston, the same mistakes that hurt them in Game 1 crept up in their game on Wednesday, ultimately putting them in a 2-1 series hole entering tonight’s Game 4.
After a brilliant performance from Toronto’s top line of Bertuzzi-Matthews-Domi in Game 2, along with finally scoring a power play goal, the same couldn’t be said in Wednesday night’s 4-2 loss. The trio couldn’t replicate their performance of a combined six points, but still managed two points thanks to Bertuzzi and Domi.
While the offence has been a struggle for the entire team dating back to last year’s playoffs, the team struggled on special teams again, going 0-for-5 on the man advantage and 1-for-3 on the penalty kill, which ultimately hurt them. It might be a different game if Toronto scored at least one goal on one of their five power-play opportunities and killed off one of those penalties. The story of this series thus far has been special teams and goaltending. The advantage has been in Boston’s favour, and it isn’t particularly close.
But tonight is a new game. This a new opportunity for this Maple Leafs team to rebound and take advantage of home ice even though Scotiabank Arena hasn’t been kind to them lately in the playoffs, going 3-8 in their last 11 home playoff games, dating back to the first round of 2022 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, compared to their 6-4 record on the road in their past ten road playoff games.
If Toronto wants a chance at winning this series, they have to turn this around and find a way to win in their barn, starting tonight before this series shifts back to Boston for Game 5 on Tuesday night. And if they’re going to, Mitch Marner, who has been limited to one point in three games this series, will have to help lead the way. You can read more about that in tonight’s Game 4 preview here, by Arun Srinivasan.
Pregame details:
Toronto Maple Leafs’ lineup:
Tyler Bertuzzi – Auston Matthews – Max Domi
Matthew Knies – John Tavares – Mitch Marner
William Nylander – Pontus Holmberg – Calle Jarnkrok
Nick Robertson – David Kampf – Ryan Reaves
Morgan Rielly – Ilya Lyubushkin
Simon Benoit – Jake McCabe
Joel Edmundson – T.J. Brodie
One lineup note: After missing the first three games of this series, reportedly due to migraines, the Toronto Maple Leafs are preparing for William Nylander to play in Game 4 tonight. He is projected to be on the third line alongside Pontus Holmberg and Calle Jarnkrok, shifting Nick Robertson down to the fourth line and taking Connor Dewar’s spot.
Sheldon Keefe says that the Leafs are preparing for William Nylander to play tonight @TSN_Edge
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) April 27, 2024
Along with Nylander, T.J. Brodie will make his 2024 playoffs debut tonight, coming in for Timothy Liljegren, according to Sheldon Keefe.
Boston Bruins’ lineup:
Brad Marchand – Charlie Coyle – Morgan Geekie
Jake DeBrusk – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak
James van Riemsdyk – Trent Frederic – Danton Heinen
John Beecher – Jesper Boqvist – Pat Maroon
Mason Lohrei – Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Carlo
Parker Wotherspoon – Kevin Shattenkirk
Projected goalies:
Ilya Samsonov (TOR) vs Jeremy Swayman (BOS)
Broadcast:
Sportsnet, 8:00 pm ET/5:00 pm PT
(Projected lineups from dailyfaceoff.com)
