BRIGHTON, Mass. — The Toronto Maple Leafs are not optimized to defend. Consider their six-pack for the first two games: Morgan Rielly, Ilya Lyubushkin, Simon Benoit, Jake McCabe, Joel Edmundson and Timothy Liljegren.
It is no slight to the Leafs to identify their defensemen as the hamburger to the up-front ribeye of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Tavares. The Leafs are designed to attack.
Through two games, the Boston Bruins have not done enough to make the Leafs’ blue line bend.
“Offensively, it’s just not there,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “We need to be better on the forecheck. We need to be more patient once we have it as far as to attack the net and when we shouldn’t.”
In terms of five-on-five offense, the 5-1 Game 1 win was deceiving. Two of their five strikes occurred at evens.
It was even worse in the 3-2 Game 2 loss. The Bruins scored just once at five-on-five.
Through two games, the Bruins have been expected to score 3.89 five-on-five goals. It aligns with what they’ve achieved on the scoreboard. Life has not been as difficult for Ilya Samsonov and his six defensemen as the Bruins would prefer. So far, the Bruins’ primary area of concern — goaltending and defense are their strengths — has come up short.
“Just got to win battles,” Brad Marchand said. “That’s the biggest thing right now. They’re competing hard. They’re getting numbers on pucks and coming up with more loose pucks, which is making it easier for them to break out, harder for us to attack the net. We just have to win more battles down there.”
Montgomery’s most significant critique is his team’s forecheck. It is the Bruins’ lifeblood.
He has often said the 2023-24 team is not a rush-oriented, high-skill team. They record results with good puck placement, on-time arrivals and battering-ram forechecking on opposing defensemen.
This has not happened enough. The Bruins’ first forechecker is getting to the puck late in the offensive zone. Their secondary forecheckers are not skating optimal routes.
All of this is letting the Leafs get to pucks first, win their battles and exit with speed.
Given the manner in which Matthews, in particular, is pursuing pucks like a berserker, allowing the Leafs momentum to initiate their offense is not creating a path to success for the Bruins. Before Max Domi’s opening goal, Matthews rifled a puck off iron. On the winner, Matthews slipped behind Charlie McAvoy before beating Linus Ullmark on his blocker side.
“Great players are going to make plays,” Montgomery said of Toronto’s top-line center (one goal and three points through two games). “What I’ve been impressed with him about is how tenacious he’s been on pucks, how tenacious he’s been on the forecheck. He’s been relentless with his work ethic. First goal, he wins a battle, rings it off the crossbar, ends up in our net. The other play, he gets in behind us. We can’t let him get in behind us.
“He’s the most dangerous man on the ice because he’s earned it.”
The Bruins could let their forecheckers fly with cleaner and more efficient exits from the defensive zone. Case in point: Pat Maroon’s clever D-zone board work on his first shift in Game 1 that released linemates Jesper Boqvist and Johnny Beecher for a two-on-one rush. Maroon won his battle on the wall. The Bruins broke out with speed. Beecher scored off the rush.
By the Bruins’ count, they had only three odd-man rushes in Game 2. Part of that was because of Toronto’s furious forecheck. The Bruins didn’t always break the puck out cleanly or rapidly. This slowed their legs in the neutral zone.
“Transition, get out of our own zone and don’t spend as much time there,” Matt Grzelcyk said of the Game 3 emphasis. “Then hopefully we can build our offensive game, start creating a little more havoc around their net front and possessing more pucks down low.”
It won’t help that Andrew Peeke will not be available in Games 3 and 4. The right-shot defenseman is out week to week because of an undisclosed injury suffered in the second period of Game 2.
Parker Wotherspoon is first in line to replace Peeke on Wednesday. The left-shot defenseman shares some of Peeke’s physicality. By using Wotherspoon on the No. 3 pair, Montgomery can shift Kevin Shattenkirk back to his strong side. Shattenkirk had played the left side next to Peeke in Games 1 and 2.
The Bruins could also consider Mason Lohrei, recalled from Providence on Tuesday. The rookie is good at moving pucks accurately and making plays at the offensive blue line. But Lohrei has work to do in the defensive zone. Without last change, Montgomery might be wary of using Lohrei at Scotiabank Arena, especially with the threat of Matthews taking advantage of the matchup.
Jeremy Swayman is scheduled to start Game 3. Backing up Linus Ullmark in Game 2 should put Swayman at full strength to extend his winning streak against the Leafs. But Swayman needs offensive assistance. One five-on-five goal against Toronto’s powerhouse offense is not good enough.
“Not yet. No,” Marchand said when asked if the Bruins had played their best yet. “We can be better for sure.”
(Photo of Trent Frederic checking Simon Benoit: Rich Gagnon / Getty Images)
