First Period

Pavel Zacha opens with a breakaway, but Joe Woll has it.

The Leafs have owned the puck since that Zacha break, the Bruins only shot of any kind with more than five minutes played. Toronto has cycled the lines twice and dominated in every matchup.

Kevin Shattenkirk goes off for a really stupid cheap shot on Mitch Marner.

Tyler Bertuzzi with a great chance that goes wide, and then Woll makes a stack of saves.

Boston played that PK perfectly.

Ryan Reaves takes a shot off his hand and has to leave the ice.

His replacement, William Nylander, has time to hit the ice and wave a stick ineffectually at David Pastrnak who sets up the opening goal:

1-0 Bruins

The Bruins come right back and put the Leafs through the spin cycle. Not good, guys.

Jake McCabe takes a penalty for being in the vicinity of Brad Marchand.

The Bruins don't actually have a good power play, but they get one chance and in it goes.

2-0 Bruins

Leafs too busy with Pastrnak to notice the other guy in the slot.

Needless to say, the middle ten minutes of this period have been all Bruins.

Max Domi with a good shot off a Nylander pass. Best Leafs action in a while.

Simon Benoit gets a post.

Wow. The ref (for the second time) blows the play dead when the wrong team has control. Also, second time Marner takes a stick to the face. The ref apologizes to Marner who was setting up a play, the guys who smacked him the face have not.

Most of this power play will be in the second period.

Thoughts

Well, I mean, that was pretty bad, actually. The Leafs showed some signs of life near the end, but they need a much better second period to salvage this game.

This paints a more positive picture, but the big push with a few minutes left is where the difference was made, and by then the difference on the scoreboard had been well established.

Second Period

Leafs fail to gain the zone on their "power" play until there's only a few seconds left. It's a very exciting few seconds with some real chances, though.

Bobby McMann with a chance that goes off Swayman's glove, and Jake DeBrusk just pots this home.

3-0 Bruins

To make this extra irritating, the Leafs are back to total domination of the Bruins. It's just that the Bruins have three goals on less than two expected so they don't really have to spend a lot of time concerning themselves with getting more chances.

Knies with a nice chance, but Swayman has it.

Boston tries to help out by taking another penalty.

The Leafs think they've scored, but it is waived off immediately. The puck never quite crosses the line.

Wow. Matthews denied again. Then the ref, who is not having a good day, blows the play dead way too soon. Swayman did not have control of the puck.

As soon as the power play is over, Knies takes a penalty because the "veteran defenceman" just falls over like a fainting goat.

The last play of the period is Max Domi giving the puck away.

Thoughts

On the one hand, it's good to see the Leafs battle hard for the puck, working for their chances. On the other hand, it's 3-0 for Boston.

Leafs with a 75% Corsi in that period.

All-situations to show the intense Boston power play/lack of effective PK from the Leafs. But also, spot where Boston got to quit doing anything but keeping the puck on the boards and letting Swayman make the saves he needs to make.

Third Period

Okay! John Tavares with a great shot that just sails home.

3-1 Bruins

Nylander has been moved up to play with Matthews.

The Pastrnak to Zacha connection puts this game to bed.

4-1 Bruins

The Leafs get to play eight minutes of perpetual board battles with the Bruins. At least they'll be sore and sorry tomorrow.

Bruins take a tripping penalty with less than 2 minutes to play, and there's a big whiteboard moment at the Leafs bench, but come on. Who are you fooling?

Thoughts

Don't tell me about the deserve to win thingy. Yes, the Leafs played well at times. Joe Woll didn't always. The Leafs didn't defend all that consistently, and they were never in this game.

Lyubushkin with a 67% Corsi on the least minutes played of all six defenders. He seems totally capable of doing his "clear the net, win some board battles" job.

As for the team, burn the tape, and don't do it again. Next game is Wednesday against Buffalo.

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