TML DESERVED BETTER !

First of all – sorry for my errant reporting lately on recent Toronto Maple Leaf games.  Sorry (again), for not caring about Columbus, Detroit, Ottawa games that don’t amount to a “hill of beans”. 

Everyone in Leafs Nation knows the Toronto Maple Leafs will be playing the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round.  Hell, we’ve known that since December.  Dumb system that needs to be fixed.

It’s The Masters opening Day and it’s got my competitive juices flowing again.  Boston vs Toronto ?  Gotta have it !

Ryan O’Reilly returned to the Leafs lineup tonight, taking his place on the “third” line between Noel Accurai and Alex Kerfoot.  Coach Sheldon Keefe’s experiment laboratory had Tavares centering Mitchell Marner AND William Nylander.  Austin Mathews was allowed to continue his chemistry tests with Calle Jarnkrok, this time with a new and calmed Michael Bunting.

Zero-Zero after one proved nothing.  Sam Lafferty stood up to a nothing challenge.

Is Ryan O’Reilly the “NEW” Swiss Army knife for Coach Keefe ?  Dude can do it all – kill penalties, contribute defensively (and offensively), centre your third line.  Ilya Samsanov continued to stand tall throughout the second period.  The lines are starting to balance out nicely.  Witness Sam Lafferty scoring the go ahead goal.

We all knew that the Bruins weren’t going to fold up and let the Leafs walk out of their building.  Sure enough, a relentless forecheck equalled Charlie McCavoy’s 14^th to tie things up.  Despite an heroic AM34 shift in the last minute – we were on to overtime.

Almost immediately, the Leafs were in the box to create a 4 on3.  Boston drew final blood on David Paternack’s 57^th goal (11 in 11 games) for the 61^st Bruins win of the season.

HOPPER NOTES:  McCabe and Brodie seem to be the designated shutdown pair…Bunting has done a nice job impersonating someone else…Marc Giordano will be 40 next season…still like Rahm and/or Hovland at Augusta…the Jays have righted the ship – or so it would appear…did y’all miss me ??