TORONTO — Nikita Zadorov meant well. With Saturday’s score tied at 3-3 in the third period, the Boston Bruins defenseman positioned himself high in the defensive zone to deny Auston Matthews’ entry. Zadorov has the size and reach to execute such plays.
But Zadorov was flat-footed. Matthews, playing for the first time since Dec. 20, approached with speed and handed the puck off to Matthew Knies inside the blue line.
The Bruins’ issues compounded. Knies sent the puck down the right-side wall just before Zadorov got in his face. Matthews carried his momentum deep into the Bruins’ end. Because of his speed and size, Matthews overwhelmed Charlie McAvoy on the end boards to win the 50-50 race.
McAvoy was on his knees. Zadorov was nowhere in sight. As such, Knies knew exactly where to go: the front of the net. As soon as Knies received Matthews’ dish, the winger blew a one-timer past Jeremy Swayman to complete his hat trick and give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 4-3 lead.
Two empty-netters later, the Leafs had tagged the Bruins with a 6-4 loss to send them back to Boston with a zero-point road trip.
“Too easy,” David Pastrnak of Toronto’s goals. “Too many easy goals we gave up.”
The biggest reason the Bruins dropped their first two road games in Washington and New York was their inability to finish. They scored only once against the Capitals. With help from Jonathan Quick, the Rangers also held the Bruins to one goal.
The Bruins solved that issue against the Leafs by pumping four past Joseph Woll. Pastrnak punched in two, including a six-on-five strike. Trent Frederic scored his first goal since Dec. 7. Morgan Geekie got the Bruins’ first goal.
The Bruins wasted their offensive breakthrough.
“When you get three or four, you hope to come away with at least one, maybe two points,” said interim coach Joe Sacco. “That didn’t happen here tonight. So we’re disappointed with that.”
The Bruins had two issues. They had little to counter the Leafs’ muscle work below the goal line. They were just as leaky in front of their net.
These are areas Sacco has worked hard to correct since replacing Jim Montgomery. His insistence on defensive-zone thoroughness has helped the Bruins scratch back into playoff contention.
Such attention to detail, it seems, is not easy to maintain.
“The actual goals they scored, the slot chances, is uncharacteristic of our group, defending,” Sacco said of the Leafs’ four five-on-five goals. “It’s something we didn’t do a good enough job tonight. Not hard enough in certain areas of the game tonight. Give Toronto credit. They played hard, especially below the tops of the circles. We knew going into the game it was going to be like that. We just have to be harder to play against down low.”
Matthews proved he is a difference-maker. It is not just that he shoots the puck like few others. The 6-foot-3, 217-pound captain is impossible to slow down when he hits cruising speed. When he stitches together his speed, power and awareness, Matthews toys with opponents.
In the first period, Matthews got enough of Elias Lindholm to force a turnover along the boards. Moments later, Mitch Marner set up Jake McCabe for the opening goal.
In the second period, Marner’s forecheck caused McAvoy to rush a clearing attempt. Matthews was positioned perfectly along the wall to intercept McAvoy’s rim. Without hesitation, the No. 1 center snapped the puck toward the net. Knies deflected the puck past Swayman to give the Leafs a 2-0 lead.
“The defensemen had a tough time breaking the puck out,” Pastrnak said. “The forwards, including myself, we didn’t do a good enough job protecting the slot. That’s the two major things, I think, to take away from this game.”
The Bruins pushed. Geekie initiated his goal with a thundering forecheck on Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Frederic netted his to tie the game at 2-2 and bust an 11-game scoreless streak.
“That one,” Frederic said, “felt really good.”
Meanwhile, Sacco switched around his top two lines in the second period. He moved Pastrnak, who started the night with Lindholm and Brad Marchand, back with Geekie and Pavel Zacha. Charlie Coyle, in the middle at puck drop, shifted to right wing with Marchand and Lindholm.
Pastrnak scored his goals after the switch. They were not enough.
(Photo: John E. Sokolowski / Imagn Images)
