Bruins knew series against Maple Leafs ‘was going to be a battle’

“Simply acquired to win battles,” Marchand stated. “That’s the largest factor proper now. They’re competing arduous. They’re getting numbers of pucks and arising with extra free pucks, which is making it simpler for them to interrupt out, tougher for us to assault the online. So, we’ve to simply win extra battles down there.”

The Bruins know they should create extra scoring probabilities and spend extra time within the Maple Leafs’ zone. They usually want to take action cleaner and sooner, with coach Jim Montgomery saying after Sport 2 that he didn’t imagine his group was enjoying quick sufficient.

“We have to win extra 1-on-1 battles low at each ends to have the ability to create extra offense,” Montgomery stated. “Defensively, I believed we had been higher in a variety of areas that we predict are actually vital. Our goaltenders have been as much as the duty; simply offensively it’s simply not there. We must be higher on the forecheck. We must be extra affected person as soon as we’ve it.”

Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk stated that, whereas he didn’t need to give away their secrets and techniques, he thought the Maple Leafs modified a little bit of what they had been doing on the forecheck, one thing Boston should account for and regulate in Sport 3.

“It’s our job to make these changes going again the opposite manner,” he stated.

All this grew to become extra sophisticated Tuesday with the announcement that defenseman Andrew Peeke, acquired previous to the 2024 NHL Commerce Deadline on March 8, is out week to week. He was injured in Sport 2 and won’t journey with the group to Toronto. The Bruins known as up defenseman Mason Lohrei from Windfall of the American Hockey League. Derek Forbort is on the mend from in-season surgical procedure and can journey however is unlikely for Sport 3; the 32-year-old defenseman has not performed since March 2.

“It’s a robust blow. He’s been actually good for us,” Montgomery stated of Peeke. “However we’ve performed all yr and everyone that’s on the journey, each defenseman that’s on the journey, Lohrei, [Parker] Wotherspoon, they’ve performed actual good hockey for us. So, it’s a place of power for us.”

And, in the end, with the physicality and tempo of playoffs, it’s not sudden.

“That’s playoffs,” defenseman Hampus Lindholm stated. “It’s not a group of the blokes on the market; we’ve a complete group right here and everybody right here has full confidence in all of the gamers that put that Bruins jersey on. That’s simply the way in which it really works this time of yr.”