The Bruins Rolled to a Surprisingly Easy 5-1 Victory in Game 1 of the 1st Round vs. Maple Leafs

The easiest thing to do after a blowout win (especially in the playoffs) is to overreact and think that things will continue to be that easy. Haha yeah right dummy, get real. The first round of the 2018 NHL playoffs began for the Bruins tonight at TD Garden and what was expected to be a tight contest turned into a laugher as they drubbed the Maple Leafs 5-1. After Toronto tied it late in the first period, Boston took off with a pair of goals in the second period and another pair in the third. The Bruins power play was humming to the tune of 3-for-6 while their penalty kill was 3-for-3.

Leafs center Nazem Kadri should be hearing from the NHL's Department of Player Safety as he destroyed Tommy Wingels in the third period with a very dirty and reckless hit along the boards that was ruled to be charging (major) and a 10-minute game misconduct. Wingels didn't return and it doesn't take a doctor to guess that he probably suffered a concussion (hello, Ryan Donato). Toronto's goaltender Frederik Andersen (35 saves) entered with a 10-1-0 all-time record against Boston but like his teammates, he just wasn't up to the task in Game 1. The Bruins had lost their last three games in the regular season but a few days off seemed to put plenty of jump back in their collective steps. Another reason that the meetings earlier this year probably mean very little: Toronto had been 3-1 against the B's before this evening.

Boston's top forward line of Brad Marchand (goal, assist), Patrice Bergeron (assist) and David Pastrnak (goal, 2 assists) was dominant all night. Marchand entered with no goals in his last 16 home playoff games but he put that lengthy drought to bed quickly with a pretty backhander just 5:28 into the first period. Torey Krug and Pastrnak had the assists on Marchand's 18th career playoff tally and first power play strike of the tilt. The Maple Leafs tied it on a similar goal at 16:52 of the first: a backhander by Zach Hyman after he sped past David Krejci and Charlie McAvoy. Connor Brown and Morgan Rielly (who spells it like that?) had the assists on what turned out to be high-powered Toronto's only goal. After that, the Bruins' superior defense and goaltender Tuukka Rask (26 saves) locked things down.

Boston outshot Toronto 9-7 in the even first frame but they started to take control in the second by outshooting their Original Six foe 16-11. David Backes put the B's ahead for good at 15:43 of the second period when he cleaned up a loose puck by kicking it to his stick blade and lifting it over Andersen. Backes' 14th career playoff goal was assisted by Krejci and McAvoy. The biggest goal of the game and backbreaker to the Leafs was the one that they allowed with 38 seconds left in the second: Pastrnak took a feed from Marchand (and Bergeron) and sniped a shot over Andersen's blocker side before he even had time to fully react. Pastrnak's third career playoff goal was a beauty, a fitting way to firmly take control of the game.

Credit to the Bruins for not taking their feet off the gas in the third as they outshot the Leafs 15-9 and scored two more memorable goals. Sean Kuraly had missed the last seven games of the regular season with an upper-body injury but he announced his postseason presence with a highlight reel goal-Sidney Crosby style-where he basically bunted the puck out of mid-air after Pastrnak had driven to the net and caused a huge pileup. Kuraly's third career playoff goal was also assisted by Chara. Toronto head coach Mike Babcock stuck with Andersen the whole way, even after he gave up a goal to Krejci at 11:29 that went five-hole on him when the Bruins center was behind the net. It was that kind of a mess for Toronto as Krejci bagged his 30th career playoff goal, assisted by Jake DeBrusk (1st career playoff point) and Krug.

I'd be shocked if Saturday's Game 2 (8, NESN) resembles Game 1 in any shape or form. The Maple Leafs will be desperate to get a split at the Garden so expect a much better effort from them (Andersen I'm looking at you). Kadri's likely suspension won't help matters since he's their second line center that plays in every situation, he's basically a poor man's version of Marchand. Likewise, the Bruins are sure to face a little more adversity than they did in this cakewalk. Still, if they can find a way to win Game 2, this series could be over much earlier than anyone would have expected. PS what's better than playoff hockey? I know I say this every year but it's so great to have it back in our lives, the crowd for Game 1 was superb.

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B's Double Down On Their Bad Loss To Avs With an Equally Horrifying Loss to Wretched Leafs

Every game in the marathon known as the 82-game regular season of the NHL is for all intents and purposes worth the same: two points. However, that doesn't mean that they always feel like they have the same exact worth. If you beat a quality team or even get a point against them (think that 4-3 overtime loss to Washington on Wednesday), that is seen as a good thing. Conversely, when you lose to the dregs of the league, there is no putting lipstick on that pig. Boston (15-12-2) lost 4-2 to lowly Colorado (10-15-1) on Thursday which was depressing enough and they followed that up with another poopfest, a 4-1 setback to Toronto (11-10-5) tonight at TD Garden.

Along with their alarming lack of goal-scoring (outside of one David Pastrnak), Boston's latest issue has been allowing the first goal. They have done that in the last three games and in fact, they have been down 2-0 to the Capitals, Avalanche and Maple Leafs so it's no wonder that they only got one point out of a possible six points in that stretch. Boston outshot Toronto 11-2 in the first period (tied for the fewest shots they've allowed in a frame this season) but weren't able to find the back of the net. The Maple Leafs took a 1-0 lead 1:44 into the second period as American hero Auston Matthews (the No. 1 pick this past summer) beat Tuukka Rask (16 saves) top shelf. William Nylander had the assist on Matthews' 12th goal of the season (tied for the team-lead) after Pastrnak had turned over the puck in his own end.

Zach Hyman tipped in a floater from the point by Jake Gardiner, giving Toronto a 2-0 advantage at 15:14 of the second period. Former Bruins great Matt Hunwick had the second assist on Hyman's (tough name) fourth goal of the season. Unbeknownst to everyone in the world except his family and agent, Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen (32 saves) is now 6-0-0 in six career games against the B's. The good news for the Bruins is that if they get to the playoffs this spring, at least he won't be there. Brad Marchand cut it to 2-1 at 18:39 as he poked in a backhander after a scramble in front of Andersen. David Backes assisted on Marchand's eighth goal of the season. As Marchy noted after the game, they need to get more dirty goals like that to snap this team-wide scoring drought.

Former UNH star James van Riemsdyk put this one away with an acrobatic tip-in of his own at 9:52 of the third period to make it 3-1 in favor of the Leafs. Tyler Bozak made the play happen with a great backhand pass and JVR was out front to get just enough of it to sneak it by Rask. Hunwick picked up his second assist of the game (he had 4 in 17 games coming in) on van Riemsdyk's 12th goal of the season. Connor Brown's empty-netter at 18:27 gave us that gross final score.

On paper (and probably in real life as well), things don't figure to ease up for Boston this week as they go to Montreal (19-6-3) on Monday (7:30, NESN) and then Pittsburgh (18-7-3) on Wednesday (7:30, NBC Sports)-the two best teams in the Eastern Conference. They return to the Garden on Thursday (7, NESN) vs. Anaheim (14-9-5) and they host Los Angeles (14-11-2) on Sunday afternoon (1, NESN). Rask is due to win at the Bell Centre sometime soon, right? Maybe it'll be the old reverse lock against the Canadiens. The Bruins can't let this slide go on for very long or else they'll drop out of a playoff spot; it sounds silly but even this early in the season, it's hard to make up much ground when so many teams are in front of you.

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