The Toronto Maple Leafs will face the Boston Bruins in the first round of this year’s NHL Playoffs.
For the second year in a row, the Toronto Maple Leafs will hit the road in round one to play against the Bruins, who won last year in seven games.
As everyone remembers, the Leafs entered the third period with a one goal lead – a lead which is safe in the NHL nearly 90% of time. They then proceeded to completely collapse, and memories of 2013 were swirling as they allowed four third period goals to lose the game and the series.
Afterwards, people were hyper-critical of Jake Gardiner, to the point of it being offensive. Gardiner didn’t have his best game, but then again, neither did Frederick Andersen, Mitch Marner or Auston Matthews.
This year should be different. The Toronto Maple Leafs have added John Tavares and Jake Muzzin, giving them one of, if not the best roster in the NHL on paper.
But will it translate to victory?
Inspired by my truly awful regular season predictions, I now present to you 5 predictions for the first round.