Leafs’ rally falls short as Bruins tie series. kristen_shilton has more:
TORONTO – The Maple Leafs went into Game 4 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against Boston on Wednesday with a 2-1 series lead, home ice advantage the rest of the way and, with the tilt tied 2-2 in the second period, a looming chance to put the Bruins on life support by winning a third game in the best-of-seven series.
That’s what the Bruins had in mind entering Game 4, desperate to atone for a one-goal loss two nights earlier in Game 3. Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy threw out a curveball right away by breaking up the Bruins' formidable top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak with the promotion of Danton Heinen into Pastrnak's place.
“I thought we were set up good for that [change], to be honest with you. I didn't think I was concerned about that one bit,” he said. “I thought our matchups were fine. That, to me, wasn't it. We just made some mistakes. We pinched when we shouldn't have, we gave up some opportunities we didn't need to give up that we haven’t been doing [previously].”
Toronto turned in two failed power play attempts of its own in the first before Zach Hyman finally found the back of the net, tipping a Morgan Rielly shot past Tuukka Rask. Just like Marchand, Hyman capitalized by getting to the net, while too much of the Leafs’ opening frame had been fixated on rush chances.
Indeed, just as quickly as the Leafs climbed out of their two-goal hole, they were right back in one, courtesy of Pastrnak. “We just have to figure out how to keep a lead, and once we get a couple, just keep pushing,” said Dermott. “We had a couple breakdowns after we felt like we had the momentum and lost it and they capitalized pretty quickly. We felt like we had a chance right down to the end.”
“That’s playoff hockey, have a short memory,” said Andersen. “Anything can change the momentum. We almost came back and forced overtime. When we play 60-minute games, we seem to have a little bit more success. We showed when we play at our best, we play in their end and we play with speed. We did a lot of good stuff tonight, too, obviously would have liked a little better ending, but that happens.”The postseason has not been kind to the Leafs’ penalty kill thus far.
For their part, the Leafs went 1-for-3 in Game 4 on the power play and are 3-for-10 overall. Considering how they got the better of Boston at even-strength in Wednesday’s outing, and have been strong at 5-on-5 throughout the series, that difference on special teams could end up being a deciding factor before it’s all over if the Leafs can’t start to compensate more effectively.
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