Forget bear hunting this spring, the Maple Leafs are stuck on Groundhog Day with their playoff path.
Losing 5-2 to the Bruins on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena, while frustratingly holding their big guns off the board, opened up a 13-point lead for Boston in the Atlantic Division. The head-to-head defeat, giving the B’s a 2-1 lead in the season’s series, takes a lot of drama out of the post-all-star break race for the Leafs.
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The Tampa Bay Lightning are the more immediate threat, five points back of Toronto with four games in hand, with home-ice advantage about the only thing to be determined. It would be a repeat of last spring’s first-round series, won by the Bolts.
Boston didn’t need 38-goal scorer David Pastrnak or any help from Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron, it had low-output blueliners Derek Forbort and Brandon Carlo provide the lead and pluggers such as A.J. Greer clinch it. That’s on top of three-goal blueliner Matt Grzelcyk’s late game-winner in Boston Jan. 14.
After goaltenders Ilya Samsonov and Linus Ullmark stole the show in the scoreless first period, there were three middle-period goals, two on special teams.
In its first chance against the NHL’s best penalty killers, Toronto was a minute into its advantage when a retreating Mitch Marner was knocked off the puck behind his net and Boston pounced with the Forbort goal. Marner atoned with Grzelcyk in the box for an elbow on Alex Kerfoot, taking a long Samsonov feed for his 19th. It was Samsonov’s second power-play assist in the past week.
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But that didn’t hold up very long as the fourth line of Wayne Simmonds, Zach-Aston Reese and Pontus Holmberg were worn down in their zone against Boston’s top line, then couldn’t cover Carlo on the change.
In the third period, where Boston has now won 27 games when leading at that stage, Greer got a step on the defence and beat Samsonov, though in his usual line of work he took a couple of punches from Simmonds in a fight on the ensuing faceoff.
That inspired the Leafs for a Calle Jarnkrok goal, but in a scrum that happened right after involving Bunting, 4-on-4 play resulted in Pavel Zacha scoring, his first of two.
This was the last game before the break, where Marner will be representing the Leafs this weekend in Sunrise, Fla., on the same division team as Pastrnak and Ullmark. Auston Matthews was also selected but his knee sprain will prevent his participation with Aleksander Barkov of the host Panthers taking his place. Samsonov can use some rest, too, used exclusively with partner Matt Murray’s injury.
Boston had a couple of cracks at Samsonov right from the opening shift, setting up a 27-shot period for the clubs. Toronto’s best look was with Rasmus Sandin and Pierre Engvall in tight on a 2-on-0, but Engvall had no room on Ullmark by the time the puck arrived. Samsonov also gave Connor Clifton nothing on a breakaway, set in motion by a Marner cough-up, and the Russian ended the period stretching across to rob Pastrnak after he’d flipped the puck past Morgan Rielly.
Without Matthews, the Leafs fashioned a second line of Marner, centred by Kerfoot, with Jarnkrok on the left.
Penalty killing is far from Boston’s only strength and it came in fired up to end a season-high three-game losing streak that had given the Leafs some hope of getting the deficit down to a single digit with a regulation victory. Ullmark has helped give the Bruins the league’s top goals-against average and Patrice Bergeron insures it will always by strong in faceoff percentage.
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“Looking at them, they are who they are because they’ve been thriving in all facets of the game,” Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe said Wednesday morning. “They’re top of the league and there are no shifts off against them.”
Toronto has been as tough on the Bruins as any opponent, splitting two one-goal decisions.
“We’ve been very lucky and fortunate to be where we are, but the last while we’ve fell on hard times,” coach Jim Montgomery said before his team’s optional morning skate. “We talk a lot about staying in the moment, staying in the present, focusing on the process we think leads to good results.”
Everything the Leafs take pride in, the Bruins seem to do a bit better. While Marner is a one-man penalty killing dynamo, the Leafs as a whole are 16th overall. John Tavares is as good as ever in the dots coming in at 58.4%, but Bergeron is 61.2%. William Nylander is hot, countryman Pastrnak is blazing. Bunting is a pest, Marchand is the Tasmanian Devil with a psychological edge.
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The Leafs won’t be back on ice for more than a week and Keefe was confident he had their full attention ahead of the-sun vacation plans.
“It’s natural, I’m sure,” Keefe said. “Whether they have wives and girlfriends with bags packed and all those types of things, they’re ready to get going.
“But this game here, you can not overlook. We’ve had two days to build up to this (as has Boston).”
Montgomery hopes his club uses its break time wisely, but also wants them to stop and smell the roses after what’s been an impressive and unexpected run to the top, with him as new coach.
“I’m going to tell them to enjoy it, that they’ve had a great first half, get your rest spend some time with your family and loved ones. Then let’s get back and continue to get better.”
lhornby@postmedia.com