The Boston Bruins It fell to 6-4 Toronto maple leaves a high-scoring event at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday night. Auston Matthews returned after missing six games with an upper-body injury and made an immediate impact, scoring a goal and adding two assists.
Bruins forward David Pastrnak didn't mince his words when reviewing his team's performance, criticizing the defense for allowing too many “easy goals.”
“Just too easy. We gave up too many easy goals and (they) gave us six goals. I know two of them were empty. I think overall too easy, the goals they scored – I didn't think we could. (A lot to stop them).” said Pastrnak.
The Maple Leafs took a 2-0 lead in the first two periods on goals by Jake McCabe and rookie Matthew Knies. The Bruins fought back with goals from Morgan Geekie and Trent Frederic to tie the score at 2-2 in the second half.
Toronto regained the lead early in the third with Knies' second of the night, but Pastrnak tied the score at 3-3 with 34 seconds left. Then Knies completed his hat trick at 5:28 on a one-timer from Matthews.
At 17:55, Mitch Marner scored from an empty net to give his team a 5-3 lead. The Boston Bruins made it 5-4 on Pastrnak's second goal, but a layup from Matthews sealed the victory for the Maple Leafs.
“We have four, but we're chasing the whole game. So I'm not sure if that's good. We talked about that — keeping the puck out of the net(ing). And unfortunately, we had a hard time breaking the puck. Good forecheck.
Pastrnak identified defensive lapses and the inability to clear the puck out of the defensive zone as the main problem of the night.
Joseph Woll had 27 saves Jeremy Swayman Stopped 23 shots for the Boston Bruins.
HC Joe Sacco in the Boston Bruins' 6-4 loss to the Maple Leafs
Bruins head coach Joe Sacco criticized his team's performance in their 6-4 loss to the Maple Leafs. Sacco pointed out that the Bruins didn't play strong enough, especially in the areas below the faceoff points, and allowed Toronto to control play in Boston's defensive zone.
“It's hard to play catch-up hockey in this League, but it's 2-2 going into the third round and we have two mistakes that they capitalize on, two misses that they capitalize on. One loses, and the other we lose slot coverage.” Sacco said.
Sacco also credited the Maple Leafs for playing hard and taking advantage of Boston's mistakes. The Boston Bruins will face the New York Islanders next Sunday.
Edited by Debasish