In Recent Years, Nothing Has Ever Come Easy For the Bruins in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Has It?

Good luck trying to predict anything that will happen in this series, other than the fact that neither team has won two games in a row at least thus far. Coming off a crucial 6-4 road win in Toronto on Wednesday that evened the series at two games apiece, the Bruins once again mostly failed to show up (eerily similar to Game 1) on their home ice and consequently lost 2-1 to the Maple Leafs. Toronto now leads the first-round playoff series 3-2 and they have a chance to eliminate the B's on Easter Sunday afternoon (3, NBC) at Scotiabank Arena.

For most of Game 5, it felt like both clubs were scared to make a mistake but Boston got the first three power plays (1 in the first period and 2 in the second period) but weren't able to take advantage of any of them. It was scoreless through two periods and up until then, the best chance came late in the second for David Krejci who did everything right but saw his shot hit the corner of the post/crossbar and bounce away from the net. As you would expect, both goaltenders were sharp from start to finish. Tuukka Rask (25 saves) deserved a better fate but as he's been for most of this series, Frederik Andersen (28 saves) was just a little bit better.

Auston Matthews looked overmatched in this matchup last postseason but this time around, one of the NHL's bright young stars has started to play like it. He hammered in a one-timer from Jake Muzzin and Kasperi Kapanen at 11:33 of the third period. That was Matthews' fourth goal of the series and it extended his point-streak to three games (4 goals, 1 assist). Toronto left winger Zach Hyman bumped Rask before the shot happened so Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy understandably challenged it for goalie interference. After a long review, the NHL replay officials (ironically enough in Toronto) ruled that there wasn't "enough conclusive evidence to overturn it." That stung but not as much as the insurance tally by Kapanen 2:12 after that. It was the end product of a beautiful rush by Toronto with Andreas Johnsson (3-game point streak) and Morgan Rielly (3-game point streak) assisting on Kapanen's first goal of the series.

Boston finally found the back of the net but it was too late as David Krejci one-timed in a pass from David Pastrnak and Torey Krug with 43.4 seconds left in regulation. Krejci's second goal of the series came with Rask off for an extra skater. This being Toronto, they nearly pissed it away in epic fashion when Brad Marchand had a buzzer-beating shot but this is a new year and team so Andersen blocked it away as time expired.

For me, the most surprising aspect of this series so far is how great the Bruins were for most of the regular season at the Garden and you could very well argue that Game 1 and tonight were two of their worst performances all year in front of their home crowd (many of whom left when it was 2-0). As you would expect, the numbers for the B's heading into the must-win Game 6 are not pretty: they are 10-13 all-time in Game 6s when they trail a series 2-3 and 3-20 all-time in best-of-seven series when they trail 2-3 (last series win in that situation was the 2011 Stanley Cup Final vs. Vancouver). Conversely, the Leafs are 19-5 all-time in best-of-seven series when they lead 3-2.

Will Toronto become the first one to win two straight contests or can Boston force another Game 7? The Celtics will be going for the sweep vs. the Pacers (1, ABC) as well on Sunday but let's be serious, Bruins-Leafs Game 6 is the real main course. If you celebrate it, I hope that the Easter bunny brings you whatever helps to calm your nerves in tense situations like this (candy, booze, drugs, etc.). As usual in the NHL playoffs, home ice hasn't meant much especially for these two Original Six clubs who are so close in terms of talent and performance-levels. It doesn't matter how, the B's just have to find a way to steal Game 6 in Toronto and bring it back here for another Game 7 which would be on Tuesday.

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