LGD: To Take Total Control of the Series
By Ryan Fancey
5 years ago You don’t need me to tell you again that the Leafs couldn’t have better-executed a road win in game one in Boston. We all saw it with our own eyes.
Toronto will try to play with that same tenacity tonight in a game with absolute monster implications if they can take it down. I’d assume that most people, the Leafs themselves included, were looking to take a split back to Toronto and not fall behind like they did last spring, resulting in an almost-impossible uphill climb to take down game seven. To replicate Thursday’s performance and go home with a 2-0 lead would really put the Leafs not just in the driver’s seat (they’ve already done that by stealing home ice), but in total control of the series and take a lot of air out of Boston’s tires.
As for what that should look like, the Leafs will likly again need to weather an early storm from the Bruins because TD Garden will be a madhouse this evening. And from there the stars need to take over like they did last game. Tavares, Marner, Nylander all got on the board and Matthews looked lethal a number of times. Babcock leaned on his big guns heavily, didn’t pursue the matchup game too hard, and got things to a point where Cassidy tried to get his killer Bergeron line away from Tavares. That all needs to happen again, and perhaps we should expect the top forwards to see their ice-time share increase even further, as Matthews nearly clocked in over 21-minutes in the opener, by far the most he’s ever been used in the playoffs.
Lineups
The lineups, as always, from DailyFaceoff:
| LW | C | RW | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
 ZACH HYMAN Rating: 75.0#36 LW |  JOHN TAVARES Rating: 83.0#8 C |  MITCH MARNER Rating: 78.8#14 RW | FL1 Rating Rating: 78.95#12 FL1 |
 ANDREAS JOHNSSON Rating: 74.3#43 LW |  AUSTON MATTHEWS Rating: 82.8#9 C |  KASPERI KAPANEN Rating: 73.3#56 RW | FL2 Rating Rating: 76.80#8 FL2 |
 PATRICK MARLEAU Rating: 72.3#73 LW |  NAZEM KADRI Rating: 77.3#33 C |  WILLIAM NYLANDER Rating: 75.5#36 RW | FL3 Rating Rating: 75.04#1 FL3 |
 TREVOR MOORE Rating: 72.4#72 LW |  FREDERIK GAUTHIER Rating: 68.9#186 C |  CONNOR BROWN Rating: 70.6#97 RW | FL4 Rating Rating: 70.64#20 FL4 |
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 MORGAN RIELLY Rating: 79.0#6 LD |  RON HAINSEY Rating: 73.0#56 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 76.03#14 DL1 |
 JAKE MUZZIN Rating: 76.6#18 LD |  NIKITA ZAITSEV Rating: 71.4#80 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 74.02#15 DL2 |
 JAKE GARDINER Rating: 77.0#15 LD |  TRAVIS DERMOTT Rating: 73.7#44 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 75.33#1 DL3 |
Obviously no changes for the Leafs, but we did talk about ice-time allotment up top and it’ll be interesting to see if the defence pairings get a little different workload. Gardiner and Dermott were hardly used in the opening game and the latter particularly struggled it seemed. Toss it up to injury recovery maybe, but we’ll see if things get better for that duo tonight.
BRAD MARCHAND
Rating: 86.8#1 LW
PATRICE BERGERON
Rating: 85.8#4 C
DAVID PASTRNAK
Rating: 84.8#3 RW
FL1 Rating
Rating: 85.78#1 FL1
JAKE DEBRUSK
Rating: 78.5#15 LW
DAVID KREJCI
Rating: 78.6#23 C
KARSON KUHLMAN
FL2 Rating
Rating: 78.58#2 FL2
MARCUS JOHANSSON
Rating: 73.9#69 LW
CHARLIE COYLE
Rating: 71.8#120 C
DANTON HEINEN
Rating: 73.9#48 RW
FL3 Rating
Rating: 73.20#11 FL3
JOAKIM NORDSTROM
Rating: 70.7#107 LW
NOEL ACCIARI
Rating: 71.5#128 C
CHRIS WAGNER
Rating: 69.9#113 RW
FL4 Rating
Rating: 70.70#18 FL4
| DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | Defense | |
|---|---|---|
 ZDENO CHARA Rating: 75.7#23 LD |  CHARLIE MCAVOY Rating: 78.4#19 RD | DL1 Rating Rating: 77.01#11 DL1 |
 TOREY KRUG Rating: 82.2#1 LD |  BRANDON CARLO Rating: 74.0#41 RD | DL2 Rating Rating: 78.12#3 DL2 |
 MATT GRZELCYK Rating: 73.3#48 LD |  CONNOR CLIFTON Rating: 73.2#53 RD | DL3 Rating Rating: 73.27#5 DL3 |
As of right now this might not be 100-percent accurate, as there are questions about Jake DeBrusk’s injury status going into tonight’s game and it looks as though David Backes will draw in regardless. That’s partly good news for Toronto, as Backes isn’t the type of player you use to answer getting torched in the speed game, but then again he’s one of the dirtiest players to ever lace them up so the Leafs’ key players will need to keep an eye out.
Goaltenders
It’s Freddie versus Rask, of course. Andersen was very strong in game one as the Leafs spent a good portion of the game defending a lead, while Rask was fine on the Boston side as well. It was a tight game in all areas and we should expect the same tonight.
The start time for tonight is a little later than usual with the games being staggered all day. Leafs-Bruins will be on Hockey Night in Canada at 8:00pm EST.
Recent articles from Ryan Fancey
