Bruins vs. Maple Leafs playoff preview

Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
Bruins: 50-20-12, 112 points, second in Atlantic
Maple Leafs: 49-26-7, 105 points, third in Atlantic
Season series:BOS 1-2-1; TOR 3-1-0

RELATED: [Complete Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs series coverage]

The skinny

The last time the Boston Bruins faced the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Stanley Cup Playoffs was the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, and it ended in epic fashion. The Bruins were down 4-1 at 5:29 of the third period in Game 7 but came back to score four consecutive goals and win the game and the series in overtime.
The victory propelled the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games, and the Maple Leafs into a rebuild, from which they have only recently emerged.
This series could be their revenge. Or it could be another chance for the Bruins to devastate the Maple Leafs.
The Maple Leafs have had the upper hand of late on the Bruins, who rallied from a 6-7-4 start to finish with 112 points. Before the Bruins defeated the Maple Leafs 4-1 on Feb. 3, Toronto had won the previous six games between the teams.

"Even though we lost more than we won, I thought we were very competitive and could have easily won," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We let one get away in the last minute up there early in the year. That's, I think, before we had really learned how to win, what to do to play winning hockey down the stretch. We're a lot different team than we were way back then."
The Maple Leafs set a team record for points with 105, only to end up third in the Atlantic Division and earning a date with the Bruins. Boston won the Stanley Cup in 2011 and went to the Final in 2013. Toronto is still learning to win with a young team.
The Maple Leafs don't have as much postseason experience as the Bruins, but they brought in former San Jose Sharks captain Patrick Marleau to provide some of that guidance. They also endured a tough Eastern Conference First Round against the Washington Capitals last season, losing in six games.
"This winning the ultimate prize is not an easy thing," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "As much as we're now a team in the League that looks like a good hockey club, you've got to do it year after year after year and you've got to be a team that can win at playoff time."

Game breaker

Maple Leafs: Forward Auston Matthews powers the Maple Leafs. The No. 1 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft completed his second season with 63 points (34 goals, 29 assists), second on the Maple Leafs behind Mitchell Marner (69 points; 22 goals, 47 assists) even though he missed 19 games, including 10 from Feb. 24 to March 20. Matthews scored four goals in six games during his first playoff series last season.
Bruins:Forward Brad Marchand has joined the elite of the elite the past few seasons, starting with his 37-goal campaign in 2015-16. Since then, Marchand scored 39 goals last season and 34 this season in 68 games, good for 1.25 goals per game. Marchand tends to go on streaks, which in a playoff series can spell trouble for an opponent.

X-factor

Maple Leafs: Marleau signed a three-year contract July 2 to provide the leadership that general manager Lou Lamoriello believed the Maple Leafs were lacking. Marleau has 177 games of playoff experience, including a run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2016. He scored 27 goals this season to bring his NHL total to 535.
Bruins: Forward Ryan Donato had three points (one goal, two assists) in his NHL debut March 19 -- and stayed in Boston the next day to attend classes at Harvard. Donato, 21, intends to finish out the semester, all while acting as an offensive force at even strength and on the power play. He had nine points (five goals, four assists) in what has been an easy adjustment to the League. Next up, the playoffs.

Goaltending

Maple Leafs:Frederik Andersen set a Maple Leafs single-season record for wins with 38. He finished with a 2.81 goals-against average and .918 save percentage, even with a sometimes-shaky defense in front of him.
Bruins:Tuukka Rask started slowly but got stronger as the season progressed and finished 34-14-5 with a 2.36 GAA and .917 save percentage. That has included dominant runs. Starting Nov. 29, Rask had a 21-game personal point streak, going 19-0-2 until the run ended Feb. 10. He then started another one, going 10-0-1 from Feb. 27 to March 31.

Numbers to know

Maple Leafs:Toronto connected on 25.0 percent of its power-play chances, better than every team in the League except the Pittsburgh Penguins (26.2). The Maple Leafs still have room to get better heading into the playoffs. Matthews continues to improve after missing 10 games because of injury in the final six weeks of the season.
Bruins:Thirty. The Bruins have three 30-goal scorers: David Pastrnak (35), Marchand (34) and Patrice Bergeron (30). They're one of two teams to have three this season (along with the Maple Leafs). But the difference is that all three players skate on the same line, making it a powerhouse of production. As that line goes, so go the Bruins.

They said it

"Every year was kind of stressful. We kind of didn't know whether we would make it or not until the final weekend. This time, knowing that you are in, it gives you more time to prepare. For everyone it's exciting. The more you play the nicer it is." -- Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov
Video: TOR@BUF: Martin feeds Komarov for his second goal

"They're a skilled, fast team. They come at you. They're well-coached, disciplined, do all the little things right. It's going to be a battle of wills and who's going to stick to their game plan longer and harder and better. It's going to be a test for us, but this team has faced every test that we've had head-on and done a pretty good job at finding the right answers." -- Bruins forward David Backes

Will win if …

Maple Leafs:They shut down the Bergeron line. The Bruins don't have the kind of depth that Toronto has at forward, but the Maple Leafs also have a defense that was 12th in goals against per game (2.80). If the Maple Leafs can contain Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak, they have a great shot at winning this series and advancing to the second round for the first time since 2004.
Bruins:The rookies rise to the occasion. The Bruins are reliant on a few rookies and in important places: their top defensive pairing, their second line and throughout the lineup. If the rookies continue to give them the kind of production and minutes they did during the regular season, it bodes well for Boston.

How they look

Maple Leafs projected lineup
Zach Hyman -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander
Patrick Marleau -- Nazem Kadri -- Mitchell Marner
James van Riemsdyk -- Tyler Bozak -- Connor Brown
Leo Komarov -- Tomas Plekanec -- Kasperi Kapanen
Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner -- Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott -- Roman Polak
Frederik Andersen
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched:Andreas Johnsson, Josh Leivo, Matt Martin, Dominic Moore, Connor Carrick
Injured:None
Bruins projected lineup
Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk -- David Krejci -- Rick Nash
Danton Heinen -- David Backes -- Ryan Donato
Tim Schaller -- Sean Kuraly -- Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara -- Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug -- Adam McQuaid
Matt Grzelcyk -- Kevan Miller
Tuukka Rask
Anton Khudobin
Scratched:Brian Gionta, Nick Holden, Tommy Wingels
Injured:Brandon Carlo (broken ankle), Riley Nash (ear), Anders Bjork (shoulder)

Status report

The Bruins could swap Holden and McQuaid depending on the game as they move through the series, with Krug getting some input into who he plays with. … Riley Nash has had continued discomfort with the more than 40 stitches he received in his ear, head and neck after getting struck by a puck off Krug's stick March 31. He will practice ahead of Game 1 and could return early in the series. … Rick Nash (concussion) and Kuraly (upper body) appear likely for Game 1. … Dermott returned from a foot injury against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. … The Maple Leafs have had a fourth line in flux for portions of the season, but it seems they've settled on Komarov, Plekanec and Kapanen. Should that group struggle, they could insert Johnsson, who has played nine games since his NHL debut March 14.