No Auston Matthews, no problem.

Without their captain and against a team who has completely owned them, the Toronto Maple Leafs put on an impressive performance Tuesday at Scotiabank Arena against their rival Boston Bruins. The power play was clicking, Anthony Stolarz was lights out, and the best part may have been watching Max Pacioretty and Chris Tanev exude passion as they got themselves acquainted into the Leafs/Bruins rivalry.

Anthony Stolarz shrugged off taking a puck to the throat early on to put on a clinic in net. Stolarz was calm, cool and collected in between the Maple Leafs’ pipes and stopped all 29 shots he faced for his first shutout as a Maple Leaf. It’s still early, but the Maple Leafs have found their best option in goal.

Who knew the key to get the Leafs’ power play going was to take their biggest scoring threat out of the lineup? Toronto scored two power-play goals in the second period, as Morgan Rielly opened the scoring with a seeing-eye shot, bar down from the point.

The best part? Matthew Knies parking his 6-foot-3 frame in front of Bruins’ netminder Jeremy Swayman. Craig Berube has shown some creativity with the lineup this season, and moving Knies onto PP1 could become one of his most beneficial moves. Knies has all the tools to become Berube’s favorite player.

Take the goalies’ eyes away, don’t overpass, and be direct with your decision making. This is the type of power-play goal that Berube loves to see:

Pacioretty continues to throw his weight around in a major way, laying out Bruins’ defenseman Andrew Peeke in the first period. Pacioretty’s hit was originally called a five-minute major, but then was reviewed and the refs decided it wasn’t even a penalty. Hopefully Peeke is OK — this was as clean as a hit as Pacioretty could make.

Chris Tanev had another strong showing and wasn’t afraid to get into the mix of Tuesday’s game. Honestly, he was the perfect signing for this Maple Leafs’ club. GM Brad Treliving doesn’t get enough credit for it, because some people are hung up on the term, but at the end of the day that will work itself out, and for now, Tanev is moving the needle for this Leafs’ hockey club. Craig Berube wants everyone to keep it simple, and nobody does that better than Tanev.

Back to Knies, he’d tip one home late in the third period to give the Leafs some insurance. Toronto improves to 36-19-2 without Matthews in the lineup all-time. Meanwhile in Boston, the pressure is mounting on Jim Montgomery’s shoulders, as he’s in the final season of his contract and the B’s are off to a very slow start.

The Bruins brought their heavy game to Toronto and the Maple Leafs had an answer for it. This game should give Toronto a huge boost of confidence considering they haven’t beat the Bruins’ in the regular season since the 2021-22 season.

The Leafs not only showed some push back against the Bruins, they showed a ton of passion. Laying the body, winning battles, and a stellar performance from their number-one goaltender.

With the two teams likely meeting at some point next spring, Berube should show the Maple Leafs this game tape before Game 1.

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