Bruins Trail Series 2-1 After Uninspiring Game 3

The Boston Bruins have dropped Game 3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs in an absolutely uninspiring performance. Once again falling behind in the series 2-1. The Toronto Maple Leafs were the better team in the full 60, even without Nazem Kadri, who has been suspended for the entire first round.

Here’s what went down Monday night in Toronto…

Good pace to start the first period. B’s fumbled away a power play opportunity but outshot the Maple Leafs 15-10. No score in the first frame.

Torey Krug can’t clear the puck out and Trevor Moore gives the Leafs the 1-0 lead at 2:38 of the 2nd.

Jake DeBrusk to David Krejci. Tie game 1-1.

Charlie McAvoy nearly knocked Tuukka Rask out of the game after Rask stoned John Tavares.

David Backes to the box for high sticking Kasperi Kapanen. Sloppy turnover and a failure to clear by Patrice Bergeron.. Auston Matthews receives a cross ice feed from Johnsson and gives the Leafs the 2-1 lead on the PP.

With Matt Grzelcyk in the box for hooking, John Tavares backhanded a pass to Andreas Johnsson who made a nice move to beat Tuukka Rask. PPG. 3-1 Leafs.

Matt Grzelcyk’s shot from the point goes wide but Charlie Coyle cleans it up. PPG pulls the Bruins within 1. 3-2 after 2. SOG: 26-26

Despite a PP opportunity, the Bruins failed to tie the game in the 3rd. Falling 3-2. Series is now 2-1 in Toronto’s favor.

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FINAL: Toronto 3, Boston 2

The Leafs executed in all facets of the game… 5 on 5.. special teams, even defensively they closed their gaps well. The forwards got in behind the Bruins defenseman, absolutely killer on the forecheck tonight.  No show from the B’s top line didn’t help. Toronto owned the neutral zone and limited the Bruins chances. By far the better team tonight. Not enough push back by the B’s tonight. Extremely frustrating that a game was within reach even with the B’s playing to their fullest. But here we are, down 2-1 in the series.

Bruce Cassidy refused to juggle up his lines outside of a few shifts. For sure thought he was going to mix things up especially in the 3rd.

News, notes and quotes:

• Not a great shift from Torey Krug on that Trevor Moore goal. Has to win that puck battle. It felt like the Bruins had a lot of these moments tonight, failed clears, not strong enough on the puck, losing board battles. Brutal.
• God awful night for the Perfection Line. David Pastrank seemed off tonight, he was an absolute non-factor. Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand looked subpar at best on the PK. This line is too good not to show up.
• Mitch Marner, again, the best player on the ice tonight. Two key blocks in the final 30 seconds of the game to preserve the win as well. He’s gonna get paiiiiid.
• Still waiting for Brandon Carlo to settle into the playoffs.
• Auston Matthews has showed up. His PPG was his first point of the series.
• Charlie Coyle with goals in back to back games. 3rd star of the game. The good news and the bad news was that he was the B’s best player tonight.
• Special teams was dogshit tonight. Allowing 2 Leaf PPGs, outside of Coyle’s PPG, the Bruins failed to cleanly get in the zone, settle things down and set up. Two PP’s featured zero shots. ZERO! Unacceptable.
• Despite playing just 13:26 I thought Danton Heinen was getting better, more confident as the game went on. Would’ve liked to see him get a look on the top line, with David Pastrnak down with David Krejci. No line juggling from Bruce Cassidy though, we’ll see if anyone asks him about that.
• Thought Tuukka Rask was fine tonight. He took a big hit after Charlie McAvoy shoved John Tavares right into him. Scary moment but he remained in the game and seemed okay after that.
• B’s didn’t make it too difficult on Freddy Andersen tonight, he finished game three with 34 saves.
• Nazem Kadri did not play. Before the game it was announced that he was suspended for the remainder of the first round for his cross-check to the head of Jake DeBrusk.

We’ve got to be better. – Patrice Bergeron on his line

We’ll see if Sean Kuraly and John Moore can make their way into the lineup for Game 4. Kuraly would be a HUGE boost to this team.

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The Bruins will have to bear down on Wednesday if they want to tie the series up. It’s not time to panic… yet. We’ve seen this team play their worse and come back. Lick your wounds and fucking get back at it.