The Toronto Maple Leafs took on the Boston Bruins at TD Garden in Game One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday night.
This is expected to be one of the closer and more competitive series of them all. These two teams are each very good and expect to be in the playoffs beyond round one.
In game one, however, the Bruins continued to show their dominance over the Leafs. They beat them 5-1 despite being outplayed at times in the middle and end of the game.
Jeremy Swayman, Boston's great goaltender, was incredible when the Leafs were on. Their power play and penalty kill did the job as well which led to their victory.
That makes 8 straight (combined regular season and postseason) victories for the Bruins over the Leafs. It has been pure domination for a long time now.
That doesn't include the fact that the Bruins beat the Leafs in the playoffs in 2013, 2018, and 2019. Toronto hasn't beaten Boston in the postseason since 1959.
If the Leafs keep playing the game that they did on Saturday, they will get swept by the Bruins. These are the three things Toronto needs to avoid that from happening:
Auston Matthews needs to score goals for the Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs have the best goal scorer in the league. Auston Matthews led the NHL with 69 goals this season which is the most anyone has had since the mid-90s.
Matthews had two chances, games 81 and 82, to hit 70. He did not do it. That means he is now at three games (including game one) without a goal.
The Leafs need Matthews to score goals if they are going to win. His 69 goals are a big reason that they are one of the top teams in the league. If they didn't have him, they wouldn't be nearly as good.
Matthews had a chance to score an easy one in the first playoff game with Swayman out of the net but he hit the post. The guy with 109 goals in the last two seasons should not be missing that shot.
If he gets going, the rest of the offense may follow suit but they have no chance if their top scorer isn't contributing to the scoresheet.