The Leafs shut down the B's top line using Nikita Zaitsev last year. If they play again, it'll be a coin toss just like last year.

*singing loudly* Firsttt roundeeeeeeed

If the buds stay outta the box they can beat the bruins, but they also gotta out work them, the leafs are more skilled but the bruins are hard to beat cuz of how hard the whole teams works together

Boston's cycle game would have destroyed the Leafs under Babs system, however the changes Keefe are making is going to limit those opportunities.

Why it was so effective before is because you had the Leaf forwards blowing the zone all the time and waiting for stretch passes, when it didn't work, Boston swarmed them in the defensive zone. Now, Keefe has them exiting the zone in 5 man units with a lot more speed and way more puck support. Try one side and if its blocked you calmly turn back and try again. The new system doesn't really give oponents a tonne of opportunities close to the net since everyone is being instructed to fall back to protect the slot. Its going to be really interesting to see what happens when these two teams play next. I think line for line, TO is a lot deeper and significantly faster, that combined with the puck possession system Keefe wants is going to force Boston to spend a lot of time defending. It'll be close and I think the special teams will be the difference. If TO can keep the puck out of the net on even 75% of their PK's it could be the difference.

You know whats really funny. The system Keefe is implementing is very similar to what Carolina has, but TO has more skill and speed. It'll be really interesting to see what people are saying come February.

Boston is hard to beat because lines 2-4 play very sound defensive work. They always are close to even or slightly above with those lines and then the perfection line destroys teams. I don't think toughness or hard work has much to do with their success as a commitment to the system has. I think if you can negate their top line and make the other lines defend constantly, you'll come out on top. Stopping that line however is difficult. I wonder if Keefe will try to form his own super line to match against them.

I would be interested to see what some lineups moves look like to help stop the B's.

Match Mikheyev-Tavares-Hyman against the top line as much as possible. You can't shut them down fully, but those guys are defensively responsible and will make it tough for them to get extended zone time. The ideal D pairing here is maybe Muzzin-Holl?

Have Johnsson-Matthews-Nylander up next with Reilly and Ceci. Should be able to overpower Boston's 2nd line and gain an advantage.

Then Marner-Kerfoot-Kappy with Derms and Barrie. Lots of offence for a third group would hopefully be able to take advantage of their slower/heavier third group.

I would play my fourth line as little as possible,.

Does that do the job? Who knows, lots can change, injuries on either side could change things. Would be another very tight fun series, too bad it won't be in the conference final.

If they can slow down the first line they can win a series. I'm interested in seeing if Keefe can pull something out of his ass to accomplish that, it's something Babcock has never been able to do. Because Keefe is everything Babcock isn't then maybe he's exactly what the doctor ordered.
Put the new Mik/JT/Hyman line out against Bergeron and co. as much as possible and stay out of the box and I like their chances.

If TOR had forwards who weren't afraid to hit people they would have a much better chance.
The way to beat Boston is to pound on the 1st line game after game and not give an inch. The rat is small, the old man is prone to injury, and pasta ain't much bigger than the rat.
If you had a player in AM who was willing to use that 6'3 220lb frame to beat on them, with say Hyman and Mikhevev TOR would stand a chance. But TOR forwards are hit adverse.
You make the 1st line slow down by looking over it's shoulder and constantly picking itself off the ice, and you disrupt the vast majority of their offense.

Nooo the funny part is consistently sh1tting on the leafs!

Lol, nicely done sir.

Interesting. I like this approach lots.

Would only counter with a top line of Nylander/AM/Mitch, cause I'm not sure if Mitch gets enough ice otherwise. But I like the idea of Mikheyev/ JT/Hyman trying to contain Boston's top line and then force Boston to try to contain Toronto's 3 young guns. I'd imagine that both teams would trade punches on that type of matchup with each teams bottom six being the difference maker.. along with whoever has the hot goalie.

I hope they meet up again this year. The last two years have been fun, even if we came up short both times.

Man, I'd love to see AM play with an edge. He did it in one game this year and it was really something to see. He seemed generally more engaged in his overall game and he was still dangerous offensively. I don't know if he has the temperament to sustain that kind of game, but I'd like to see more of it.

TBH last year I thought they did an okay job of disrupting the big line. They made Marchand be the transition guy often, which is his weakness and an area he is much weaker then the other two. To his credit, he was able to get them in the offensive zone a lot and then find ways to the front of the net and score. I think the plan was strong, the execution just didn't get it done.

If that series is officiated better I think the Leafs win it, hopefully that aspect of the game will be more even next time.

Yes. The leafs had a chance to do it last year but failed. We played well against Boston for most of the series and our was game was game 7 3rd period. It’s the playoffs anything is possible. Cbj swept Tampa and everyone was saying a sweep for Tampa. You never know with the playoffs

If it comes down to a single game, like it has the last two years, then there’s absolutely no reason why they can’t. They’ve just gotten outplayed. I know that isn’t very nuanced, but at the end of the day, anyone can beat anyone on any given day in this league.

The Leafs have been healthy every year

In 2018, the Leafs were out coached easily in game 7, Admitting Gardiner had the worse game of his life. Last year, Dermot and Gardiner were playing after being rushed back from injuries.
There seems to be this illusion that the Bruins "destroyed" the Leafs in those two series. Far from it...two very close series.
Having Keefe and not Babcock gives the Leafs a boost from last season. I still say the missing combo Zaitsev, Hainsey and Gardiner and better than the replacements of Ceci, Holl and Barrie, so again everything else being equal it's tossup.
First the Leaf have to dig themselves out of the hole of being in 12th place in the conference. Boston looks to first place finishers, and unless the Leafs can get into 2nd or 3rd, they could be playing the Bruins again as fourth place finishers in the first round But it could be 2nd and 3rd place Tampa and Leafs in the first round.

stop blaming the refs. The officiating is never going to "get better."
It's a goon league they want "drama" it sells tickets and gets viewers

It doesn't matter what round they play. In 7 games the best team wins.

I honestly thinking not being in 1st place is an advantage to teams. If you clinch 1st, you relax and let the foot off the pedal. But it's hard to put it back on.
Hell let Boston run away with 1st. It's one of the best things that could happen to knock them out.