The Bruins don't look quite so unbeatable now......

I was loathe to make too many observations after Game 1 on Wednesday night—I’ve seen too many teams look awful in the first game of a playoff series, then turn around and play some pretty good hockey.  I gave a few examples in Leaf "history" where this applied in an earlier post…)

I also reiterated my long-held belief that for the visiting side, Game 2 is usually way more important than Game 1—and often a harbinger of things to come. 

Throw in a few much-discussed roster alterations, and the fact that the Bruins, as I kept noting here of late, have not been the same old Bruins since they won the Cup two years ago (and certainly not this season) and suddenly, we have a series.

Was it all about the insertion of Gardiner, Frattin and Hamilton (whose game I liked, though I acknowledge I didn’t see him as a turning point guy going into the game) into the Leaf lineup?  For me, it wasn’t.  It was much more about Remer’s superb (and very relaxed, and composed) play throughout the evening but especially in the early and late going.  That said, there is no question Gardiner and Frattin contributed.

Young Jake had a few difficult moments in his own zone that the Bruins almost took advance of, but they could not convert and Gardiner’s game—and confidence—grew, it seemed, as the game went along.  Frattin has not been the most consistent Maple Leaf in his short tenure in blue and white, but on this night, he was at times the very definition of the “mini power-forward” I have described him as quite often in this space.

It was all of those things, yes, and of course, Kessel throwing an anchor off his back in Boston with that beauty early third-period marker (and van Riemsdyk somehow skillfully putting the puck behind Rask for the clincher as he was falling all over himself).  Yet in my view, it was primarily about the Leafs returning to being the Leafs:  they played like wanted it more than they did in Game 1.  That was their approach all season long, playing with an edge—led by the likes of McClement and Komarov.  And the Leafs skated.  That’s a simple statement, but they are, after all, a skating team, and if they aren’t moving their legs and making things happen, they can struggle, especially when they don’t play with the required grit.

So this was a huge win—and an impressive road victory.  But before they ever even had the lead in this one, Grabovski had his old jump once again, fighting through several big hits.  (Did you like him going back at Lucic late in the game? That’s feisty Grabbo…)  They scored a power-play goal.  Gardiner really didn’t do anything out of the ordinary on the play, but he got the puck on net, and as we have discussed here before, if the Leaf defensemen can get the puck on net like Franson so often does, good things can happen.  And they did in this instance when Lupul shoved home a rebound to tie the game at 1 and give life to what could have soon become a dispirited Leaf bench.

Kulemin almost made it 2-1 with a nifty move and great backhand shot.  Then Lupul did make it 2-1 off a strong rush from Frattin.  By the time Kessel scored in the early seconds of the third period (a superb touch pass by Kadri), it was the Bruins this time that looked frustrated and confused.  When Boston had that two-on-one almost midway through the final period, Gunnarrson handled it well, and that was another turning point for the Leafs.

I’ll have more to say on this in my next post, but I’m sure Leaf fans are seeing the same thing I have noticed all season and was on display again Saturday night:  and that is, a Zdeno Chara who doesn’t look at all like the Chara of five years ago—or even two years ago when the Bruins won four exhausting rounds to earn the Cup.  He is still big (you don’t lose size and reach, eh) and while he has always been mobile for a tall defenseman, he’s not exactly a gazelle at this point in his career.  He still plays big-time minutes for Claude Julien, but I just don’t see Chara as the player he was, and I think the Leafs need to take advantage of that. (I’ll talk more about how they can do it next time…)

As frustrated as some fans were after Game 1, there will be predictions of a Leaf series win now.  That’s the emotion that goes with being a fan.  And I've lived that Leaf roller-coaster emotion for decades.  I like to think it keeps me young...

Could the Leafs win the series?  Of course.  I’ve said here how many times, the Bruins are a very beatable team.  They’ve played a lot of playoff hockey in recent years, and while they obviously have, on the one hand, a lot more playoff experience and savvy than the Leafs, young legs can carry you a long way—if those legs skate and every guy is hard to play against. (And does Rask really have much more playoff experience than Reimer? This Bruin team had been reliant on Tim Thomas in the spring for years…)

Does anyone remember when I wrote several weeks ago that the Leafs were becoming one of those teams no one liked to play against?  It maybe hasn’t felt that way a lot lately, I well recognize.  But Carlyle created a different mindset in the dressing room—a much tougher one.  They have skill and speed, yes, but also because of players like Fraser, McClement and Komarov and yes, if we admit it, MacLaren and Orr, they have made the Leafs tougher and not much fun to play against most nights.  Especially when, on their good nights, the same “tough” Leaf team can turn around and outskate you, make plays and goaltend as well or better than their opponent.

So the Leaf team we saw Saturday night was, yes, generally much better than the turnover-prone, sometimes confused-looking side that the Leafs have been too often for the better part of the last month.  But it was enough to even a playoff series against a difficult opponent.

Before the series, I didn’t buy going into the series that the Bruins had huge a “mental” edge on the Leafs because of recent history, for the simple reason that this is not the same Leaf team that was overwhelmed over the past few seasons when they met up with the Bruins.  I certainly did not predict a Leaf series victory, and I still don’t.

The difference between “then” and now?  The Leafs now have an emerging young goalie, a potential difference-maker in Kadri (obviously still growing as a player), and a versatile winger in Lupul who is finally healthy.  And yes, they have the aforementioned Fraser (who was much better Saturday night, but so were his teammates—as I keep saying, the Wednesday loss should not be pinned on one or two guy; it was a team effort), McClement and Komarov, et al.

And importantly, they have a coach who has been here before, and has a sense of what it takes to win at playoff time.  No coach is perfect, and Caryle is not.  But he’s not the inflexible, stubborn old guy that some want to paint him as.  While his critics will no doubt say “Carlyle finally came to his senses; they won because he played Frattin and Gardiner”, there’s so much more to it than that.  Carlyle knows exactly what he is trying to achieve with the roster he has and on this night, he not only pushed the right buttons—all the players played hard and generally well.  When they didn’t on Wednesday night, it was on them, in my view, not Carlyle.  Last night was also on the players.  They deserve the credit.  Lineup changes would not have mattered a whit if the rest of the team did not upgrade its play big time.

But I’ll also say this:  Carlyle got the attention of some guys with the lineup adjustment.  And, they got some breaks Saturday night.  They worked for them, for sure. But they’ll likely need a few more breaks as the series wears on.  Winning teams almost always do.

I don’t want to make any more of this game than I did the first.  But the Leafs (and yes, this can be risky too) can head back home feeling better about themselves.  Will that motivate them even more for Game 3, or might they take a while to get going on Monday because they feel a bit contented?  Carlyle may have a different challenge now.

On this night, they outskated the Bruins a lot of the time and also won a lot of puck battles.  And not a fight in sight, until the last moments of the game.  You don’t have to win fights to beat the Bruins.  But you do have to skate and win puck battles.

24 hours to feel good after a playoff win.  Sometimes nine years is worth the wait.