The Stanley Cup playoffs are all about punching and counter-punching. In their Game 1 win, the Bruins did a terrific job slowing down Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews. The Hampus Lindholm-Brandon Carlo defense pairing did about as well with that assignment as anyone could. When Matthews did get his lone great chance, he missed an open net.
NESN's Sophia Jurksztowicz on how Bruins respond after Game 2 loss
In Toronto’s 3-2 Game 2 win on Monday, Matthews reminded everyone why he’s one of the very best players in the world. He dominated in every way. He set up the Leafs’ first two goals, picking up the primary assist on each. He scored the game-winning goal in the third period, snagging an aerial pass, racing past Charlie McAvoy, and beating Linus Ullmark on a breakaway.
Matthews landed a game-high eight shots on goal. He won 16 of his 23 faceoffs. He set the tone physically, dishing out a team-high six hits. He led the Leafs in ice time – a rarity for any forward – playing a whopping 23:24. And just to put an exclamation point on the night, when the Bruins were jamming away for a tying goal in the final minute of the game, Matthews was there in the crease to calmly slide the puck back under his goalie after it briefly trickled behind him.
“He was all over the stat sheet tonight in so many regards,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said of Matthews. “He’s affecting the game positively for us. To me, just the way he worked, where he competed. He was hard, physical, winning puck battles all over the ice. … It’s big-time stuff.”
The Bruins were still getting the matchups they wanted, with Lindholm, Carlo and the Charlie Coyle line seeing the bulk of the 5-on-5 minutes against Matthews and his linemates, Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi. Keefe didn’t try to avoid that matchup. He didn’t change up Matthews’ linemates. He simply trusted his best player to be better than he was in Game 1, and Matthews delivered.
With the series shifting to Toronto for the next two games, Keefe will now be able to dictate matchups with last change. Whichever Bruins he puts Matthews out against, they will need to do a better job of limiting his time and space and being physical with him than the Bruins did on Monday.
The other part of this equation is that the Bruins are going to need to generate more 5-on-5 chances of their own. The Bruins and Leafs have each scored three 5-on-5 goals through two games, but the numbers start to look more concerning for Boston when you dig a little deeper. According to Natural Stat Trick, 5-on-5 scoring chances are 58-27 in favor of the Leafs, and high-danger chances are 25-13 for Toronto.
In Game 2, high-danger chances were 6-1 Toronto when the Matthews line was on the ice. The Bruins actually had a 6-4 advantage when anyone else was on the ice, but they’re going to need to find some bigger wins elsewhere in the lineup, especially if they can’t do a better job containing Matthews.
The Danton Heinen-Pavel Zacha-David Pastrnak line, which was the Bruins’ best line down the stretch in the regular season, has not been good enough at 5-on-5 so far. The Bruins have been outshot 8-5 and outscored 2-0 during their 16 5-on-5 minutes in this series.
Pastrnak does have two even-strength points -- including a goal Monday set up by a sick pass from Zacha -- in two games and has gotten some looks on the power play, but he also has just two 5-on-5 shots on goal. Zacha also has two. Heinen has none. Fourth-liner Johnny Beecher has more high-danger chances by himself (4) than that entire line has. That’s great for Beecher, but not a great sign for what is supposed to be Boston’s top offensive line. Pastrnak played 18:39 in Game 2 after playing just 16:37 in Game 1. Assuming he’s healthy, that number needs to be bumped up.
The Bruins need more from their third line of Jakub Lauko, Morgan Geekie and Trent Frederic, too. They had one great offensive-zone shift in the third period of Game 1 that helped killed Toronto’s comeback effort for good, but otherwise they’ve been spending way too much time in their own zone.
The Bruins are getting caved in during their minutes – down 20-10 in shot attempts, 13-2 in scoring chances, and 7-1 in high-danger chances. A lot of those minutes are coming against the Leafs’ bottom six and third D pairing. Those are the kinds of matchups that can often swing a series if they lean too far in one direction.
“I think it’s a function of they’re defending well. It’s also a function of we’re not playing fast enough,” Montgomery said of his team’s lack of quality offensive looks. “We’re slow in transition, which is not allowing us to possess pucks and not allowing us to get in on the forecheck.”
Everything looked rosy for the Bruins after Game 1. The Leafs looked like the team that had no answers. Now everything has flipped. That’s the nature of playoff hockey. Matthews and the Leafs landed their counter-punch with force in Game 2. Now it’s the Bruins’ turn to respond.