Auston Matthews shares his thoughts on a sloppy Game 1 for the Leafs
Photo credit: Toronto.citynews.ca
Auston Matthews talked about the Leafs' lack of discipline, the Bruins' dominance, and what his team needs to do to bounce back in Game 2.
The Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman was beaten to a loose puck by Auston Matthews a few minutes into the second period. He's unfortunate.
Put it off the post of the open net A point shot from Brandon Carlo gave the Bruins a lead. From that point forward, it was all Bruins, with a 5-1 triumph and a 1-0 lead in the series.
Where did Matthews think the game got away from them?
"Too many penalties. You give a team like that opportunities on the man advantage, especially that many, they're going to capitalize."
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A pair of powerplay goals in the second frame put the game beyond reach for the Bruins, who went 2-for-5.
As their powerplay continues to struggle, the Leafs went 0-for-3. The Leafs' penalty killing improved towards the end of the season, but they couldn't replicate their late-season success last night.
What did Matthews think of the Leafs' play and how they can get back into the series?
A terrible coverage breakdown by the Leafs in the Bruins zone gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead. Despite giving up on the early goal, Matthews was pleased with their start.
"I thought we started out [with a] pretty good game, just little mistakes and they're a pretty patient team and executed on the mistakes we made. It's a game of inches and we got a taste of what the series is all about here in this game and have to elevate our game and put our best foot forward and play our game.
We'd like to be more consistent, but it comes down to execution. We get the opportunities that are there, we have to capitalize when we get them. It's tight, they're a very patient team and they play well defensively and we have to continue to challenge the net and have guys there and outnumber them."
It's not as though the Leafs didn't have chances, since they outshot the Bruins 39-24.
As Matthews said, they were unable to take advantage of them the way Boston was able to.
Swayman's saves reminded many Leafs of the way Sergei Bobrovsky played against the Leafs in round two last post-season.
The Leafs can bounce back in Game 2 the same way they did against the Lightning last post-season, according to Matthews.
"It's one game at a time. We can take a lot from this game and course correct it and reinforce different things. In the end, we have to come out and elevate our game and minimize mistakes. We have to take care of the puck and simplify things a little bit, I think when we did that, we got a bump in momentum."
The Leafs will not have much time to adjust as Game 2 goes Monday in Boston, but they are hopeful that one or both of Bobby McMann and William Nylander will be back in the lineup.
Both players missed yesterday's game with undisclosed injuries, and having them back in the lineup would provide a huge boost to the forward group as well as challenge Boston in terms of matching lines.
Previously on MapleLeafsLatest
| POLL |
21 AVRIL | 66 ANSWERS Auston Matthews shares his thoughts on a sloppy Game 1 for the Leafs What do you think the outcome of their first round of matches will be after dropping Game 1 to Boston? |
| Bruins in 4 or 5 | 9 | 13.6 % |
| Leafs in 5 | 9 | 13.6 % |
| Bruins in 6 or 7 | 7 | 10.6 % |
| Leafs in 6 or 7 | 41 | 62.1 % |
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