First Period

The Bruins have made some interesting changes, chiefly moving Pavel Zacha to the wing. He's been a bit invisible, and I'm not sure this will help him.

Max Domi line (first line) with a long opening shift after Tavares opens the game. Auston Matthews comes out third.

Timothy Liljegren with a great play to get back when Joel Edmundson's shot rebounds for a rush against. Ilya Samsonov with an equally great save.

All four lines cycle through in a very fast, borderline wild five minutes.

Matthews gets to face the Bruins' fourth line in his second outing. I can't see Jim Montgomery allowing that all game.

Samsonov without his stick for about an hour and a half, and it's way out in the high slot. I'm not saying he should get a mitten string, but I'm not not saying that.

Boston with the run of the ice for that second five minutes in the first until the Leafs fourth line gets a good shift. A lot of blocked shots turning into rushes against.

Sheldon Keefe is getting Morgan Rielly out there with the fourth line to give them some offensive oomph.

Simon Benoit with a shot Jeremy Swayman has to pluck out of the air.

Matthews steps out centring Mitch Marner and Tyler Bertuzzi for the faceoff following Benoit's shot. Best bit is Liljegren falls down while playing at the net, and the broadcast thinks that Bertuzzi.

Bruins come right back against the Tavares line, and Charlie McAvoy buzzes Samsonov who responds with a shove.

Matthews on the top line was a one-off so far, he's back on the Swedish line with Calle Järnkrok and Pontus Holmberg.

The third segment of this period was a lot of back and forth with the puck resulting in very few shots.

Matt Knies to William Nylander for the best chance of the night.

Matthews with a very bad giveaway on what would be his worst shift of the game so far. No harm done.

Hampus Lindholm defends Nylander perfectly, and he should likely stop doing that.

Matthews with a winger from each of his lines at the final minute.

Thoughts

JvR is one of the most obvious quality players for the Bruins, and it's telling they kept him out at first for some of their no-name grinders. They are stuck in their identity rut.

No complaints about Samsonov in that period. Do it for two more, Sammy.

Good defending from the Leafs' entire team. But they are absolutely struggling to create good offence. Edmundson and Benoit leading the team in shots is a symptom, not the cause of the problem.

I've spent years saying Mitch Marner should not play with Matthews by default. And here I am tonight, extremely relieved to see them get shifts together.

Second Period

Now it's a 40-minute game seven. No you're tense.

Liljegren takes a penalty dumping JvR because he can't out-man his man. Bruins to the power play.

Swayman gives the puck away, but he survives because Marner isn't in a good shooting position. And that's the only drama on the power play.

Coyle dumps Domi along the boards and the calls are now even. Eh... okay. Not quite Marchand level he sure falls easy, but it's close.

Järnkrok with a shot on Swayman, and he can't finds his brakes and nearly runs Swayman. Slow speed trouble making.

This is a fantastic Leafs power play with all sorts of shots and effective drop-pass enabled setups. But they didn't score, you say? Pfffft, I say. It's a process oriented business. Chance they get another power play? Well the Bruins could bounce the puck over the glass.

Leafs come out of the special teams interregnum playing some good cycles with actual shots on the net. It's as exciting as their power play.

Toronto takes another penalty for a hook on Pastrnak by Knies. (Ref was calling what he thought was a penalty by a guy struggling to defend. He was wrong.)

Connor Dewar with just a beast of a PK shift here. Scoring chances, hard skating, good clears.

Knies out of the box on a break and Kevin Shattenkirk uses him to bowl his own goalie. I hope Knies isn't hurt. That's a trip, I tell you what.

I think the Leafs have been very good at the end of this period, but it's becoming hard to stop just watching, and think about the game more analytically.

Thoughts

That call on Knies might be a reputation call because he does take "junior hockey" defending penalties a lot.

Matthews has played 9:48 minutes at five-on-five, and one minute of power play time. He has three shots (Corsi) and and ungood .05 ixG. His on-ice CF% is 50, and his XG% is 26.

The Leafs in general are at 49% Corsi and 41% xG.

I'm not absolutely sure Matthews playing has paid out yet, but the night is young.

The most meaningful offence has come on the power play, and only by the Leafs. As you expected.

Third Period

It's now a 20-minute game 7.

Leafs open strong, and Marner looks like Marner.

A failed clear doesn't cost them, but they need to tighten up just every so slightly.

Samsonov with a save of a shot from Justin Brazeau. He was a shooter in junior, despite his fourth-liner physique.

The Bruins lay down about four minutes that would be excellent if they had a 2-0 lead. But the Leafs can't break through.

DeBrusk is turned aside by Samsonov.

Scooooooooooooooooores. Scooooooooooooooooooores.

This is the guy in the 88 shirt who caught the puck, and you can't tell me it's not.

1-0 Leafs

Matthews was a beast on that shift.

Boston comes right back and ties it up.

Tie Game

Hampus Lindholm. Over to you Willy.

It's a nine-minute game 7.

Leafs get a bogus icing call which delays the TV timeout. There is 7:26 left in the game.

Leafs struggling to maintain puck control once they hit the neutral zone.

Thoughts

I saw some stuff. Some bad passes, some poor decisions. Everyone's running on fumes though.

That top line has to have a shooter. And the Leafs don't seem to have one. That's my main thought.

Overtime

It's a sudden death game 7.

Knies with a nice chance, but he's going too hard to elevate the puck.

Nylander out with Matthews and Bertuzzi.

There is is. David Pastrnak finally makes his mark.

Bruins win.

Thank you Leafs for giving it all you had.

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