The Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to begin, and there are several high-profile matchups on tap for the most exciting postseason in professional sports, including a renewal of the longtime rivalry between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Over the next two months, we'll narrow the playing field down from 8 qualifying teams in each conference to just one left standing to hoist the Stanley Cup.
After a drama-filled race to the finish line of the regular season, the matchups are set, and it's time to break them down and give a series prediction.
The Atlantic Division was an interesting race to follow this season, as three elite teams jockeyed to avoid having to play both of the others in the first two rounds.
In the end, the Florida Panthers won that right, forcing a showdown between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, although the Panthers slipped behind the Rangers to set up a series with the Tampa Bay Lightning, which is no prize either.
Regardless, it's a rematch of several prior first-round series in which the Bruins have defeated the Leafs each time. Can Toronto reverse the outcome this year?
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NHL Playoffs First Round Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins
Boston dropped a game to Washington on Monday night while the Panthers beat the Leafs on Tuesday to seal the division, setting up this matchup that every neutral hockey fan is delighted to see.
The Bruins have long been the big tormentor of the Maple Leafs in the playoffs, knocking them out in the first round in 2013, which sent the Leafs into a playoff drought that ended in 2017. In 2018 and 2019, Boston beat the Maple Leafs again in the first round.
Toronto, for its part, got the postseason monkey off its back last year by beating the Lightning, but still has just one playoff series win in six seasons with this core group.
The Leafs are a bit steadier this year. They've got some skilled snarls up front in Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi, and Sheldon Keefe is hoping those guys can be difference makers in a playoff environment.
Toronto is still shaky on the blue line though, without a real shutdown pairing to limit the opposing team's top line and with just one ultra-dynamic game-breaker back there in Morgan Rielly.
Against a team that's throwing a Pastrnak line and a Marchand line over the boards at them, the Leafs will be in deep trouble in one of those matchups, if not both.
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NHL Playoffs First Round Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins Rotations and Matchups
The Maple Leafs will simply need more than they've gotten in past playoffs from superstars Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, who have left the offensive production to William Nylander in many of their series losses.
The Bruins are set to rotate in goal between Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, who have taken turns all year. Swayman and Ullmark are both great, but you wonder about one wrong decision throwing off the confidence of both guys.
On the other side, Toronto is also facing a decision between two less stellar options. The Leafs will likely turn to Joseph Woll, who is more trusted than Ilya Samsonov, but Woll has struggled since returning from an injury that held him out for much of the season.
The no-Patrice-Bergeron-factor is the other big thing in this series, as the Bruins have in the past been able to rely on the Bergeron line to both erase the opposition's best group and score in bunches with Marchand and Pastrnak.
While there are postseason question marks on both sides, Toronto's combination of uncertainty in net, instability on defense, and inconsistency in production in this environment from their superstars makes them tough to roll with.
Look away, Leafs fans...
The Pick: Boston Bruins in 7
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