Jeremy Swayman made just one mistake Saturday night. It came a little under five minutes into the second period, with the Bruins leading 1-0. After Auston Matthews knocked down Charlie McAvoy in a battle, Swayman came way out of his net to try to beat the Toronto star to the loose puck. He didn’t get close, and the NHL’s leading goal-scorer was left with an empty net. Matthews, however, choked away the chance and hit the post.
Razor thinks Ullmark, Swayman finally break through to win a series
Other than that, Swayman was excellent in Boston’s 5-1 win over the Maple Leafs in Game 1 of their best-of-seven first-round series.
Making his first career Game 1 start, and finally answering the question of which goalie would get the opening game, Swayman stopped 35 of the 36 shots he faced. Rebounds, rush chances, a 4-on-3 power play. Swayman shut all of it down. He made five saves on Matthews alone, and six on John Tavares.
“We just felt that Swayman hadn’t had the opportunity to start a series before, in the last couple years, and we wanted to see him start a series, see how he handles it,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “He did really well.”
At the other end of the ice, the Bruins made the Leafs pay for their mistakes – and some of Toronto’s biggest mistakes came from their top players.
Just over a minute after Matthews’ miss, Jake DeBrusk wrapped around Toronto’s net and set up Brandon Carlo for a one-timer. Carlo did not miss, blasting a shot past Ilya Samsonov to make it 2-0 Bruins.
Later in the second period, Matthews faltered again, high-sticking McAvoy in front of the Bruins’ net. On the ensuing power play, DeBrusk wheeled through the right circle and snapped a shot past Samsonov with the help of a Morgan Geekie screen. 3-0 Bruins.
The punishment did not stop there. Just 36 seconds after that goal, Max Domi, who is playing on Toronto’s top line with Matthews, foolishly slashed Brad Marchand on the hand right off a faceoff. The Bruins’ power play, so quiet in the weeks leading up to the postseason, roared to life again, with Marchand setting up DeBrusk in front for DeBrusk’s second goal in as many minutes.
Tyler Bertuzzi, the former Bruin and third member of Toronto’s top line, committed his own offensive-zone penalty in the first period, making it a clean sweep of “careless” penalties for that trio, as Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe put it.
“The careless penalties – Domi’s is the one I would call an undisciplined penalty,” Keefe said. “Understand what he’s trying to do, but he crossed the line there. You can’t do that. The high-sticks, that’s just careless stuff.”
Perhaps they were frustrated by the work the Bruins’ shutdown defense pairing of Hampus Lindholm and Brandon Carlo was doing against them. Bruins coach Jim Montgomery reunited that pairing for Game 1 and got them out there for the majority of Matthews’ 5-on-5 shifts. The Bruins outshot and out-chanced the Leafs during those minutes.
“That’s a pairing that’s done really well against Matthews, his line, throughout the year – last year and this year,” Montgomery said. “And they did a good job again tonight.”
On the Bruins’ side, not only did their best players step up, but everyone did. DeBrusk, coming off a disappointing regular season, played his best game of the year, scoring the two goals on the power play, assisting on Carlo’s goal, throwing five hits, and also seeing plenty of the Matthews line along with linemates Marchand and Charlie Coyle.
“Obviously I didn't like my season,” DeBrusk said. “It was pretty disappointing for myself. But at this point in time, we get a chance to go for the ultimate goal and that's all that really matters."
The Bruins’ bottom six was dynamite. The fourth line opened the scoring just 2:26 into the game. Pat Maroon took a double hit from Joel Edmundson and Ryan Reaves in his own zone to move the puck up to Jesper Boqvist, who then took off on a 2-on-1 with Johnny Beecher. Boqvist slid the puck over and Beecher buried his first career playoff goal in his first career playoff game.
Beecher seemed to be everywhere every time he was on the ice, winning races and battles in the defensive zone to get pucks out, and doing the same in the offensive zone to keep pucks in.
“I thought Beecher was really good. I think that’s the best game he’s ever played as a pro,” Montgomery said.
Maroon also helped set the tone physically, including landing a huge hit on Timothy Liljegren in the first period that knocked the Leafs defenseman into the Bruins bench.
The third line of Geekie, Trent Frederic and Jakub Lauko did its part in the physicality department as well. Frederic and Lauko each landed five hits, and Geekie added another three. And when the Leafs made a push early in the third and cut the lead to 4-1, it was that line that swung momentum back to Boston. Geekie landed a huge hit on Nick Robertson on the forecheck that set up a minute-plus of offensive-zone time that culminated in Lauko drawing an interference penalty on Jake McCabe.
“The physicality of our group was very evident,” Montgomery said.
It’s only one game. The Bruins still need to win three more. It would be foolish to think this series is anywhere close to over. William Nylander, the Leafs' second-leading scorer this season, could make a difference if he's able to return at some point after missing Game 1. Nonetheless, Swayman and the Bruins did everything they needed to do to set the tone for the series and take Game 1.
The biggest question going into Game 2 is once again: Which goalie starts for the Bruins? Stick with Swayman after a dominant performance? Or stick with the rotation that got them here and turn to Linus Ullmark?
On that front, Montgomery still isn’t announcing anything.
“It’s gonna be hard to go away from Sway,” Montgomery acknowledged. “He played a terrific game. You win 5-1. But like we said, if we decide to go with Ullmark, we’re comfortable with it. Our team’s comfortable with it. It doesn’t affect us in the room whoever starts next game.”