Three areas where Bruins must improve to eliminate Leafs in Game 6 originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Bruins are still in control of their first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but their margin for error is getting smaller.
The Bruins held a 3-1 series lead with a chance to eliminate the Leafs in Tuesday’s Game 5 at TD Garden. Instead of punching their ticket to the second round, the B’s lost 2-1 in overtime in an ugly performance.
Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery was visibly frustrated in his postgame press conference, and that emotion wasn’t gone by the time he met the media following Wednesday’s practice.
“I’m still pissed off from last night, to be honest,” Montgomery said after the Bruins’ optional practice. “I don’t understand and don’t accept our play last night. I’m going to be pissed off until the puck drops (in Game 6).”
The series shifts back to Toronto for Game 6 at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night. The Bruins should be plenty confident going into that building. They played really well in Games 3 and 4 last week, earning a pair of impressive victories. The Leafs also have lost six consecutive home playoff games dating back to the first round last season.
But after blowing a 3-1 lead and losing to the Florida Panthers in the first round last year, the pressure will continue to mount for the Bruins if they fail in Game 6 and have to return home for Game 7 on Saturday night.
Here are three areas the Bruins must improve in to beat the Leafs in Game 6 and avoid another Game 7 on home ice.
David Pastrnak needs to get going offensively
Pastrnak is the Bruins’ best player and the engine that drives their attack. He did not play well in Game 5, registering four shots with zero points despite leading B’s forwards with 20:06 of ice time. He also didn’t tally a single high-danger scoring chance in 18:30 of 5-on-5 ice time.
Pastrnak has four points in five games, which isn’t bad by any means. We’ve seen takeover games by Auston Matthews (Game 2) and Brad Marchand (Games 3 and 4) in this series, but Pastrnak has yet to dominate a matchup in this series. There hasn’t been a signature moment or a signature game from him yet. That’s unusual for him against the Leafs in the playoffs.
Back in the 2019 first-round series, Pastrnak scored twice in the Bruins’ 6-4 win in Game 4 that tied the series. He scored once with two assists in Game 1 of the 2018 first-round series, then followed it up with a six-point performance…