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It's often a good idea to throw away the game tape from a 5-1 loss, and the Leafs should mostly do that after getting trounced in game 1, despite hitting lots of posts and out-shooting the Bruins throughout the night. However, there are probably a couple things they should change just to be safe.
#1: Put TJ Brodie back in the lineup.
Look, I know he didn't have a great season. But only Morgan Rielly is trusted to play more than him on a nightly basis, all his shots results were 50% or better against primarily first and second lines. He may have taken a step back from being a top pair defender, but he's still ahead of multiple players in Saturday's lineup.
I'll leave whoever comes out up to Keefe, but I would advocate and say he has more to give. Mark Giordano, too, despite his age. The Leafs had defenders who didn't make good decisions and struggled to defend an opportunistic Bruins offense.
#2: Stop taking stupid penalties, Max.
Someone on Twitter put it really well, that the Leafs were trying to act tough in Game 1 and not actually play tough. I don't think five penalties to kill (or not to kill) was the referees fault, but instead on the players who didn't want to play hockey.
Head down, play hockey, win games.
And that goes for the forecheckers, too. That first goal in the first minute set the tone for the game. The Leafs (in that case, Reaves) were going for the extra hit and ignored their positions defensively. It happened on multiple occasions and it turned into a game that the Leafs could have competed in into a blowout.
I don't want the Leafs to be leading the playoffs in hits the way Simon Benoit is right now, because the more you have to hit the less you have the puck and more you are behind the play. Do you know someone who's gotten hit a lot? Hampus Lindholm, that's someone who tends to have the puck a lot.
Turning the page to someone who knows how to hit and be physical effectively, Toronto Captain Blayre Turnbull repped the Leafs in Montreal as the PWHL broke another attendance record, selling out the biggest hockey rink in North America.
Wishing the @MapleLeafs the best of luck in the 2024 NHL playoffs 💙 pic.twitter.com/SYezFieKXE
— PWHL Toronto (@PWHL_Toronto) April 20, 2024
Another. Record. Shattered.
— PWHL (@thepwhlofficial) April 20, 2024
Nous marquons l'histoire.
Merci Montréal!
EN: https://t.co/s3jWAdmvp1
FR: https://t.co/X1FmwfChlV pic.twitter.com/RLEvQbcYdE
We do, and we also love sweeping the season series against Montreal. See you in the playoffs or better luck next year!
Une ovation exceptionnelle pour notre capitaine
— PWHL (@thepwhlofficial) April 20, 2024
The people love Pou 🫶 pic.twitter.com/J6lii5ais2
And speaking of, Toronto was the first team to clinch a playoff spot in the PWHL after the OTW over Montreal. Sarah Nurse found the top corner in the first minute of overtime for her second goal of the game. Toronto are now vying for the regular season championship ahead of the playoffs.
THE NET CAM ANGLE OF NURSEY’S OT WINNER 😮💨 https://t.co/7xSm2vm4y8 pic.twitter.com/ZZ4ntJAZnp
— PWHL Toronto (@PWHL_Toronto) April 21, 2024
Grabo did the CN Tower climb with his daughter on his back to raise money for WWF-Canada.
Earlier this morning, @OfficialGrabo climbed the CN Tower for WWF-Canada with his daughter on his back. What a gem. pic.twitter.com/JXjlFtXAcs
— al (@antogold) April 20, 2024
Canucks fans have to go back for some remedial lessons in playoff etiquette. You can only guess what some of the rules are.
Stanley Cup Playoff Etiquette: Do’s and Don’ts for Canucks Fans https://t.co/UksU3ugYke pic.twitter.com/POdpSQk2v3
— Daniel Wagner (@passittobulis) April 20, 2024
I'm pretty sure we published eight articles on Saturday for your reading pleasure. Here's a taste of them:
Matt Murray and the Toronto Marlies lost 4-3 in Game 1 of their best-of-three play-in series against the Cleveland Monsters. Murray allowed three goals on 20 shots in the first two periods. The Marlies scored three in the third but it wasn't enough. They get another chance today at 4pm.

Junior hockey playoffs are ongoing and Brigs has an update on that.
Read our PWHL preview/GDT after Toronto beat Montreal in overtime.
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