Shockingly, there will be a Game 7 in Boston on Saturday night in the first-round series of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins. Despite having the deck stacked against them in more ways than one, Toronto has been able to win the last two games to force the decisive game over the weekend.
What makes this such a disappointing turn of events for the Bruins is their inability to take advantage of the circumstances. Not only did they have the Maple Leafs down 3-1 in the series, but Toronto has been without their best player, Auston Matthews.
Matthews is dealing with an illness that led to doctors taking him off the ice ahead of the third period in Game 4. He was then sidelined for Games 5 and 6, which the Maple Leafs were able to come out of victoriously.
While the Bruins didn’t have a star player injured and sidelined, one of them was absent from the game. David Pastrnak was called out by coach Jim Montgomery following the 2-1 loss on Thursday night.
“Your best players need to be your best players this time of year,” Montgomery said. “I think the effort is tremendous. They need to come through with some big-time plays in big-time moments. [Brad] Marchand has done this throughout the series. [Pastrnak] needs to step up.”
Boston got off to a very slow start in Game 6, as they were outshot 12-1 in the first period, lucky to be tied at the end of it. There were chances in the second period to score the first goal of the game, but it was William Nylander who got the scoring started for the Maple Leafs.
”It’s unacceptable, our start again,” Montgomery said. ”We have to find a way to start on time. Toronto, they’re starting on time. They’re getting the advantage, they’re getting the momentum. But it shouldn’t take that long [for us].”
Nylander would score again in the third period, doing his best impersonation of Matthews to stake Toronto to a 2-0 lead. The only goal the Bruins would score in the game came with 0.1 seconds remaining, as Morgan Geekie ruined the clean sheet of Joseph Woll.
“[Toronto] had a couple looks in the first period, and their goalie made a couple saves,” Pastrnak said. “We got much better as the game went on. But we have to be much better at the start.”
Pastrnak is going to have a lot of eyes on him in Game 7. Being called out by your coach could certainly be seen as a motivating tactic and it will be interesting to see how he responds to it.
In the series, Pastrnak has two goals and two assists. But, he has not recorded a point in the last two games, which is a big reason the Bruins find themselves in the position that they are in. Pastrnak has a point in all three of the team’s victories this series but only registered one point in the three losses.
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