Bruins will play Maple Leafs in first-round Eastern series

The Boston Bruins will play the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Boston (50-20-12) finished second in the Atlantic Division and will have home-ice advantage. Toronto (49-26-7) was third.

The Bruins went 1-2-1 against the Maple Leafs this season, winning 4-1 on Feb. 3. Toronto won the most recent game, 4-3 on Feb. 24.
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Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Torey Krug led Boston with four points each in the four games. Tuukka Rask started three games, going 1-2-0 with a 2.69 goals-against average and .905 save percentage. Anton Khudobin started made 30 saves in a 3-2 overtime loss Nov. 10.
"I'm looking forward to it," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Two Original Six teams. ... We both exited in the first round last year, probably learned some lessons. They've got a great coach that I've always looked up to and tried to learn from. I think, both good goaltenders. It should be a terrific series if both teams are on their game, and that's playoff hockey right there, a lot of speed, probably a lot of physicality."
Mitchell Marner led Toronto with nine points (three goals, six assists), and James van Riemsdyk (three goals, two assists) and Nazem Kadri (two goals, three assists) each had five points. Frederik Andersen started three games, going 2-1-0 with a 2.69 goals-against average and .908 save percentage. Curtis McElhinney started made 38 saves in a 4-1 win Nov. 11.

This will be the 15th time they have faced each other in the playoffs; Toronto has won eight of the previous 14. They last met in the Eastern Conference First Round in 2013, which the Bruins won in seven games.
"A very tough team," Bruins forward Brad Marchand said."They play very fast, a lot of skilled players, very high tempo and they never quit. You watch the way they play all year, they battle last second and they've won a lot of games in the last minute, so they're competitive and they don't shy away from anything, so it's going to be a good series. They're one of the toughest teams that I think we've played against all year and it will be a good battle."
Boston was eliminated in the first round by the Ottawa Senators in six games in 2016-17.
Toronto made the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since making six straight appearances from 1998-99 through 2003-04. They were eliminated in the first round by the Washington Capitals in six games last season.