NHL | It was hot in Toronto. The stars aligned, Matthews didn’t finish, but Boston remains alert

On Wednesday night, Boston’s TD Garden could already celebrate advancing to the conference semifinals. Unless something major happens, it’s also quite likely. Toronto’s biggest stars look clueless and the pressure is taking their shine away. At 0-3 the growing frustration was evident.

Disappointed leading scorer Auston Matthews, who scored the only goal in the playoffs, started talking to his teammates after a failed attempt to set up an offense, Nylander immediately spoke up, and Mitch Marner immediately threw both his gloves away in anger. Not surprisingly, the Maple Leafs’ performance on Saturday wasn’t exactly stunning.

But Marner himself and coach Sheldon Keefe denied that there was tension in the cabin, although the season hangs in the balance.

“I don’t think there’s any frustration. We are adults. We’re just talking about our events and we want to be sure they’re 100 percent. And there it was just a little off the mark. We don’t yell at each other because we somehow hate each other,” said Marner, who ended up scoring Toronto’s only goal.

“I don’t feel any disappointment among them. The boys push each other, they are competitive, they want to win. That’s all part of it,” Keefe added. “We expect a lot from each other and we like each other. We push each other, we have a high bar, which I think is great,” said Nylander, who missed the first three games of the series due to a migraine, but did not make an impact in 22 and a half minutes on the ice in his comeback.

When Toronto conceded the third goal in the 40th minute from the stick of David Pastrňák after a perfect action by Brad Marchand, boos accompanied the departure of the Maple Leafs players to the cabins. In addition, Matthews did not return for the third period, as he did not finish the match due to symptoms of a persistent illness.

“Brad is everywhere, he scores, he sacrifices in the fade. He is our captain who leads us in the right direction,” Pastrňák praised Marchand, who with his 56th career goal in the playoffs rose to the top of the club’s all-time list.

Anyway, Boston is on a great roll right now. Over the weekend, he again bet on goaltender Jeremy Swayman, and even thanks to his 24 saves, he won the seventh of eight games with the Maple Leafs in the regular season. From Toronto in four playoff games, he conceded only seven times, of which only once in a weak position.

But the Bruins remain cautious. They certainly don’t want to allow a repeat of last year’s scenario, when they led 3-1 after two games in the opening round in Florida and still didn’t advance. “We know how talented the Maple Leafs are offensively. You can’t give them much because they can threaten you out of seemingly nowhere. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us in the next game and we have to be ready for it,” declared Marchand.