TORONTO -- The Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs are playing their fourth series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2013, and in the three previous instances (2013, 2018 and 2019), the series went to seven games.
So it’s not surprising that the Bruins weren’t able to end the series in Game 5 on Tuesday, with a 2-1 overtime loss.
And now, back at Scotiabank Arena, the Maple Leafs will attempt to repeat that feat in another elimination scenario in Game 6 on Thursday, and once again will have to do it without center Auston Matthews, who will miss his second straight game with an undisclosed injury after leading the NHL with 69 goals during the regular season.
“Excited, and knowing our backs are still against the wall here,” Maple Leafs captain John Tavares said. “Not much can change. We only have to get better. We want to keep playing here. So I think just excited, especially to be back home for our best effort.”
The Bruins, on the other hand, need to come back with an effort closer to those in Games 3 and 4 as opposed to Game 5. But they said they know what it takes to close out the series.
“It’s a combination of everything,” defenseman Charlie McAvoy said. “It’s physical, it’s winning battles. Mentally it’s turning the page, shift after shift. You don’t have a good shift, you’ve change the next one. Not bringing baggage with you. And then the rest is just execution.”
Here are 3 keys for Game 6:
1. Ramp up minus Matthews
The Maple Leafs were able to go on the road and take Game 5, even without Matthews.
Can they do it again, at home, in Game 6?
Matthews, who played 81 games during the regular season, missed the third period of Game 4 and all of Game 5 for an undisclosed reason, which could be illness, injury or both. He skated on his own before Toronto's morning skate Thursday but will not play.
The Maple Leafs have won each of the two games Matthews has missed this season -- a 7-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 16 and Game 5 against the Bruins.
“It’s a bit of the human nature piece and you recognize that everybody has got to be better,” Keefe said. “It’s more just the confidence that our team has and how it’s responded when players have been out, even just in this series alone. You have no William [forward Nylander] and lose in Game 1, still no William in Game 2 and you’ve got to find a way to win a game on the road.
“I think that piece is important. We have confidence there. I think we can trust in the group. If anything, it just shows the strength of the group and the importance of the group, not looking to others to do the job, but just doing your part and then trusting that the group will find a way to prevail in the end.”
2. Start on time
The first period of Game 5 was a struggle for Boston, even though it had the home crowd and the chance to close out the series. The response was not optimal.
“We didn’t get to our game,” McAvoy said. “We didn’t get to our game, and we addressed those things [Wednesday]. We looked at it, sort of the little things, the underlying things, the reasons why we didn’t get to our game. We’ve got to internalize those things and we’ll be better for it.”
It was something that had Bruins coach Jim Montgomery still peeved when the team gathered at Warrior Ice Arena on the day off between Games 5 and 6.
The hope, they said, was to figure out the physical and mental pieces that got in the way of a quick start Tuesday, which resulted in an 11-2 shot advantage for Toronto in the first period and the first goal of the game, scored by defenseman Jake McCabe at 5:33.
And though the Bruins matched that score in the first period, on a goal by center Trent Frederic at 13:54, Boston looked disjointed and out-of-sorts through the first half of the game.
