Maple Leafs vs Bruins Live
7 Keys For Bruins’ Game 7 Vs. Maple Leafs
April 23, 2019
Filed Under:Auston Matthews, Boston Bruins, Brad Marchand, Game 7, John Tavares, Michael Hurley, Sports News, Toronto Maple Leafs, Tuukka Rask
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) — Here we are, once more. Boston Bruins. Toronto Maple Leafs. Game 7.
As most everyone knows by now, the Bruins have history on their side, having vanquished the Leafs in Boston in both 2013 and 2018. But as we all know, history won’t have any impact on the play on the ice on Tuesday evening at the TD Garden. Here’s what will.
WHICH BRUINS TEAM SHOWS UP?
The Bruins celebrate a goal fromDanton Heinen . (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
If you’re a Bruins fan, you’ve no doubt been frustrated by the Jekyll and Hyde identity crisis the Bruins have undergone this series.
In Game 1, they were uninspired. In Game 2, dynamite. Ditto for Game 4 and Game 6. The showing on home ice in Game 5 left a lot to be desired.
Of course, the Maple Leafs have shown that they are a very good team, and if Toronto does win the series, it will be well-earned. But at the very least, hockey fans in Boston are hoping for the Bruins to show up and play to their capability in the biggest game of the year.
ICE CONDITIONS
Brad Marchand (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Unprompted, Brad Marchand fired a shot at the ice conditions in Boston.
“Ice has been terrible there,” Marchand said of Boston after the Game 6 win. “So we might as well play with a tennis ball and we’ll just skate around and see who bounces one in the net.”
Yeesh. The crew in charge of maintaining that ice surface can’t be happy about that. But might Marchand have a point? To the naked eye, the Bruins did appear to be stuck in the mud during their Game 5 loss at home, unable to control the puck or corral passes or execute on the power play. (They’ve scored on 71.4 percent of their power play opportunities in Toronto this series, but just 22.2 percent of their power plays at home.)
So, we’ll all have our eyes peeled early to see if the puck is bouncing over sticks or getting stuck in spots. A bad break one way or another tends to have significant impact in Game 7 scenarios.
ONE BAD GOAL
Tuukka Rask (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
A whole host of things needs to go right — or wrong, depending on your perspective — for a goal to be scored in an NHL game. But sometimes, all it takes is one simple mistake from the last line of defense against the flying rubber disc.
And with the pressure ratcheted up to 11 for this one, such mistakes will be magnified tenfold if they are to take place in front of the hockey world.
The men facing that pressure will be Tuukka Rask and Frederik Andersen.
STATS THIS SERIES
Andersen: .925 save percentage, 2.70 GAA, .950 even strength save percentage, 3-3 record
Rask: .921 save percentage, 2.54 GAA, .934 even strength save percentage, 3-3 record
CAREER GAME 7 STATS
Rask: 2-2 record, .845 save percentage, 3.72 GAA
Andersen: 0-3 record, .839 save percentage, 4.36 GAA
Both goalies are clearly better than what those career Game 7 numbers show, but that will hardly matter if either lets up a softy in this one.
ANDERSEN’S GLOVE
Frederik Andersen (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
Speaking of the goalies, the Bruins might be wise to stop trying to beat Andersen to his glove side. If anything’s stood out about either goalie through six games, it’s been Andersen’s ability with his glove hand.
