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Bruins win yet another Game 7 against Maple Leafs

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The Bruins close out their series against the Lightning behind 32 saves from Tuukka Rask. Boston eliminates Toronto in Game 7 of Round 1 for the second straight year.

You could say that history repeated itself as the Bruins once again won a Game 7 against the Maple Leafs, taking this one 5-1.

After all, Maple Leafs fans will suffer through a similar, empty feeling. Their rivals dispatched them from yet another first-round series, and with a cap crunch coming for Toronto, the heartache is real.

And, yes, Jake Gardiner’s Game 7 nightmares continued. There his blinking, sad face was, as the Bruins stormed off to a 2-0 lead, with both goals coming while Gardiner was on the ice.

Yet, while the 2013 and 2018 Game 7 matchups featured rather epic Maple Leafs meltdown that almost felt Shakespearean, this contest carried a heavier air of inevitability. Yes, the Maple Leafs made a game of it by sanding down a 2-0 deficit to 2-1 through the second period, but Sean Kuraly’s 3-1 goal minutes into the third really sapped much of the drama from 2019’s Game 7.

(A failed power play by Toronto minutes after Kuraly’s goal really hammered that point home.)
[NBC 2019 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]

Unlike in the previous Game 7 contests with Toronto, the Bruins never trailed this time around. You’d think that the Bruins’ lethal top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak would have been doing the heavy lifting, but instead it was Boston’s supporting cast members. (Tuukka Rask played a big role in the lack of drama, by the way, as the Finnish goalie made 32 out of 33 saves.)


  • Joakim Nordstrom scored the 1-0 goal, which will haunt Frederik Andersen for some time thanks to its just how hideous it was.


  • Marcus Johansson took advantage of sloppy defensive work to score what has to be one of the biggest goals of his career.
  • John Tavares gave the Maple Leafs some life with his goal, but generally Toronto couldn’t really get its top guns going, particularly once the Bruins were able to get in cruise control defensively. (Bold prediction: New York Islanders fans will make a few jokes about their team making it further than Tavares this year.)
  • That Sean Kuraly goal came on what seemed like an innocuous play, and you could practically feel the shock and dismay when the Maple Leafs bench was shown reacting to it. Two empty-net goals added a couple extra pinches of salt in the wounds for Toronto.

With another gutting loss against the Bruins in mind, the Maple Leafs have a lot of soul-searching to do.

Andersen was mostly pretty strong in Round 1, but this hurts -- really, really, badly. Again, top stars like Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner couldn’t make a mark in Game 7 after gaining some traction midway through Round 1.

And, honestly? It’s fair to wonder how much blame Mike Babcock should carry. Was he too stubborn in not experimenting with different combinations, whether it was trying out Matthews with Marner more often, or giving the higher lines an injection of higher-end talent by moving William Nylander higher up the order? And did the Maple Leafs lack adjustments in the finer points of the game, such as sticking to their tendency to look for stretch passes too often?

[More on Babcock’s coaching job, and the decisions he made.]

Of course, while many - particularly those in the Toronto media - will focus negative attention on the Maple Leafs, you don’t really struggle unless your opponent is playing at a high level.

The Bruins posed a mighty threat to the Maple Leafs all along, so it’s not really that surprising that Boston came through. They’re a very, very good team, particularly when they’re getting offense from players other than that big three of Bergeron, Marchand, and Pastrnak.

Boston moves on to an intriguing Round 2 matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets. It will be a series of many storylines, including rest versus rust, as the Bruins just went the distance against the Maple Leafs while Columbus kicked back and relaxed following that shocking sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning. It’s not the series many were expecting, yet both the Bruins and Blue Jackets have been playing at a high level, so it should be a fascinating time.

Maybe John Tortorella will even give us a few more golden quotes?

James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.