The Bruins defense isn’t too shabby and there are a handful of respect forwards, but really the Bruins are now just one incredibly good line that needs to be dealt with. The Leafs are a little deeper than that, albeit a little worse on defense. Rather than trying to line match to the Bruins incredibly good line, wouldn’t it be nice to see the Leafs drive the play in a manner that puts the Bergeron line on the ice in less than ideal situations for them? Alas, I’m talking crazy again, and look for the Leafs to go to great lengths to put Cody Ceci next to David Pastrnak for some reason.

I know this will get me kicked out of the blogger union, but Marincin has looked atrocious this year and frankly his numbers don’t justify him being used every night. While the reasoning behind demoting Sandin makes some sense, not platooning Marincin with Gravel seems silly, especially after a bad night for Marincin, but especially after a back to back when an extra pair of fresh legs wouldn’t hurt.

Remember yesterday when we talked about what if Andersen loses, what does that do the chance of winning the second half of a back to back? Well, we’re living in that world now. The Leafs took a loss against Columbus last night, something that Michael Hutchinson could have equally provided, and now are in the situation where they face a divisional opponent with their backup goaltender with a tired team in front of him. It’s easy to be cocky about coaching philosophy before the games are played, but it didn’t take long for that self imposed rule to look pretty stupid.

Here’s hoping that Hutchinson surprises us tonight and he has shown he’s capable of surprises, but I wouldn’t rule out this being the third rough start for Hutchinson tonight. I’m getting curious how long the leash is on him, and how active the Leafs have been on trying to replace him.

Overtime idiocy aside, I am here to say positive things about Marner with this line and would like to see more of it. In fact, I like it so much I’d suggest that making it permanent or at a regular thing throughout the year would bring me joy. Imagine a world where the Leafs roll:

Johnsson-Matthews-Nylander
Hyman-Tavares-Kapanen
Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Marner
Who-Cares-?

That’s the world I want to live in.

Of course, we might see it not work as well tonight, but so far so good.

Every game I love Jake Muzzin a little more, and games against Boston are when I appreciate him the most. I’m hoping Muzzin is feeling up to a lot of work against the Bergeron line tonight because if there is one player I do want to see matched to them, it’s Jake.

While Muzzin is on the older side of the Leafs roster, I’d say he’s someone that Dubas needs to be hard at work on bringing back, especially when next year’s lineup will include youngins like Sandin, Liljegren, and Dermott.

It’s hard to find the good version of a stay at home defenseman, but Muzzin is essentially that.