Black and Bruined

The odds were stacked against the Maple Leafs, having lost five of the six games in the season series. The Bruins had outscored them 28-10 before the puck dropped, but against all odds, they came out with two points against the reigning Stanley Cup champs pushing the winning streak to three.

In reality, the game ended with the Bruins having swept the season series definitively, outscoring the Leafs 35-10 in sum. Reimer donned a baseball cap before he even had the chance to break a sweat, having let in four goals on nine shots, just 12 minutes into the game. Frustrations came to a boiling point early for the Leafs: they couldn’t beat the Bruins on the scoreboard and so tried to get it done in the ring, with Luke Schenn and Mike Komisarek getting into fisticuffs late in the first.

No momentum was generated, with Komisarek taking beating from Milan Lucic’s frantic uppercuts and Schenn getting a draw at best with Gregory Campbell. By the end of the 1^st the Bruins had four goals, three of which were scored by their 3^rd and 4^th liners.

The game within the game became whether or not the Leafs could get more shots on net than the Bruins have goals. Midway through the second period the Leafs had six shots, the Bruins six goals. At 15:59 in the second Carl Gunnarsson pulled ahead with the Leafs seventh shot of the night, but to make things exciting for Leafs fans the Bruins scored their seventh goal going into the third period. At the other end of the rink Jonas Gustavsson had allowed two goals on just eight shots, more shots in that period than the Leafs had tallied all game. The Bruins had as many goals tonight as they’ve had in their last four games.

The Bruins came into the third with a strategy of mercy and conservatism, holding back as much as possible. They protected the puck and killed the clock more blatantly as the game went on. On the bright side, John Michael-Liles put the Leafs’ eighth shot on net, netting the Buds one more shot than the Bruins had goals… until Seguin tapped in Boston’s eighth in 23 shots. Yes, that Seguin. With a late push, the Leafs won 12-8 in the shots-vs.-goals version of the game, but the Bruins won 8-0. Many Leafs fans thought they had made their peace with another lost season before tonight, but the team found a way to make it hurt anyway.