EIL Roundtable: Have the Toronto Maple Leafs Done Enough to Pass the Bruins?

Peri Gallacher

The past two playoff seasons of game seven failures against Boston have tarnished a once hopeful heart- i’m not saying I’m giving up on their chances of defeating the Bruins completely, but there’s a newfound cynicism going into this new season.

The disdain I have for the Bruins and the curse that befalls the Toronto Maple Leafs when they step foot on the ice in the TD Garden, is mighty. It’s become this David and Goliath story- the Leafs vs the Bruins- Skill vs Braun.

It’s undeniable that the Bruins pose one of the best top lines in the league, with Marchand- Bergeron – Pastrnak, and they are lethal in playoff prime.

There’s also the fact that the Bruins are just a more physical team than the Leafs, all and all and unless some guys got real aggressive real fast there’s no way by playoffs this year the leafs would be able to out muscle them.

The biggest issue I’d say is in the coaching department, it’s like Babcock doesn’t want them to win. He underplayed star players like Matthews all through the series but the moment that comes to mind is the 2018 playoffs where he specifically called on Patrick Marleau (age 39) for extra manpower and on the power play instead of younger, more agile players like Tavares and Marner.

The only way the Leafs are getting through the Bruins is if Babcock loosens up and quits his antics of playing the guts out of guys who should be retiring in the next two years and plays decent line ups on power plays and uses star players like Auston Matthews when they should be used.

Here’s to a new season and hopefully the defeat of Toronto’s Goliath