To be blunt, the Boston Bruins came to town and beat the Toronto Maple Leafs quite easily by a score of 5-2. The Maple Leafs’ performance in last night’s game had to be disappointing for most fans.
The Maple Leafs simply made too many mistakes, and it seemed that the Bruins took advantage of most of them. Even without Auston Matthews and his offense adding to the team’s arsenal, the loss serves as a reminder that getting out of the Eastern Conference is going to be tough this season.
Getting to the Stanley Cup Final is always hard work, and the Maple Leafs still can’t claim that they can beat the Bruins regularly. So far this season, the Bruins deserve to be considered the top team in the NHL.
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Latest News & Highlights
If the game was considered a test, the Maple Leafs failed. Fortunately, it’s only a mid-term and not the final test. In this edition of Maple Leafs’ News & Rumors, I’ll take a look at some of the player news from the game as well as a review of where the team is headed into the All-Star Break and bye week.
Item One: Ilya Samsonov Played Two Different Games
Ilya Samsonov played a great first period but then struggled over the last two periods. In the end, he gave up five goals on 16 shots. To his credit, the Bruins made him work hard. It seemed that most of the shots they took were high-quality scoring chances.
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Samsonov had played well over his past seven games, winning five. Furthermore, in those five wins, he gave up two or fewer goals. Not last night.
In his 25 games on the season, Samsonov has now put up a record of 17-6-2, with a goals-against average of 2.42, and a save percentage of .913 in 25 appearances. With Matt Murray injured, Samsonov has been getting more starts. However, it’s not like he’s run away with the job.
When Murray comes back from his injury, look for the goalie situation to get back to the sharing ways that have been the case thus far in the season. Both goalies have played well this season; and, at the same time, both have struggled.
Item Two: Mitch Marner Scores, But Goes Minus-3
Similar to Samsonov, Mitch Marner’s game was up and down. He scored a great-looking power-play goal, but he also was on the ice for three more goals against than goals-for. He ended up with a minus-3 rating in the 5-2 loss.
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