‘You can’t make those mistakes’: Maple Leafs drop Game 1 to the Bruins — and no, it wasn’t even close

From goaltending to goal scoring to team discipline, the Bruins simply outclassed the Leafs as both teams started their quest for the Stanley Cup at TD Garden on Saturday night.

With two goals from Jake DeBrusk and an outstanding display of goaltending by Jeremy Swayman, Boston skated off with a 5-1 win in the opener of their best-of-seven series.

“I thought we started out pretty good and then (we made) little mistakes,” said Leafs star Auston Matthews. “They’re a very patient team and executed on the mistakes that we made.

“It’s a game of inches. We got a taste of what the series is all about. We have to continue to elevate our game and put our best foot forward and get better.”

Getting better is a tall order against the Bruins. Not only have the Leafs yet to beat them this season, having also lost all four meetings in the regular schedule, they have yet to even hold a lead. It’s been a remarkable display of dominance, a fact the Bruins are politely declining to accept.

“These things go in swings,” said DeBrusk. “There’s some times where the other team has the edge on you, and then the playoffs start and it’s all brand new. So we don’t really look at that in the sense of that.

“We understand they’re going to come out with a response and obviously try to split the series. So we got to just focus on ourselves and be ready for Game 2.”

Both teams have a day to regroup with Game 2 back at TD Garden on Monday. But the Leafs might be in need of more than just regrouping. Some of the issues that led to a four-game losing skid at the end of the regular season continued in Game 1: too many penalties, too many giveaways and other mistakes, and not enough quality goaltending to save them. Ilya Samsonov stopped 19 of 23 shots.

Each member of the top line — Matthews, Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi — was penalized on some overly rambunctious shifts. Domi took two penalties, and Boston’s power play went 2-for-5.

David Kämpf was the lone scorer for Toronto, an early third-period goal that offered some hope until Trent Frederic’s empty-netter got the crowd singing “Ole Ole Ole.” 

“It’s one game at a time and we can take a lot from this game and try to course correct it,” said Matthews.

No Nylander

Sure, the Leafs were without all-star forward William Nylander with an undisclosed injury. His presence might have helped an 0-for-3 power play and the team’s late-game effort with an extra attacker. But it probably wouldn’t have made enough of a difference with the effort put forth Saturday.

“He’s a very good player,” coach Sheldon Keefe said of Nylander. “He makes a big difference on our team. We’ve played with our guys out at different times and we’ve handled it very well. We didn’t handle it very well tonight. But all that said, he had nothing to do with us taking too many penalties, giving up a two-on-one.”

Playoff fever

There was a buzz around the city with downtown Boston decked out for the playoffs, for both the Bruins and NBA Celtics. The asking price for Game 1 Leafs-Bruins tickets on the resale market was between $200 and $350 (U.S.) about a half-hour before puck drop, with the Bruins base ramped up for the action.

“It’s a blast,” said Leafs captain John Tavares.

Sending messages

The start didn’t disappoint. Keefe put out his top line to open the game, and Domi looked as if he was going to get into it with Boston’s Brad Marchand at centre ice before the puck was even dropped. Both teams intended to send messages, and Domi and Bertuzzi — signed because of past playoff performances — dished out the first big hits.

But the Bruins sent the bigger message by scoring first. They’re really not much of a possession team, but they can be opportunistic and the fourth line capitalized on the  first opportunity: Jesper Boqvist feeding John Beecher on a two-on-one. The period’s only goal was scored on Boston’s first shot, just 2:26 into the game.

Bruins pull away

The Leafs started the second period on a four-on-three power play and had chances. When it was over, Matthews hit the post with Swayman out of position. But the Bruins followed their earlier script, jumped on a Leafs miscue and scored on their first shot of the period. In this case, it was a weak pass by Matthew Knies to Simon Benoit that led to a turnover and an extended stay in the Leafs end before Brandon Carlo scored. Later in the period, with Matthews in the box for a careless high stick, DeBrusk made it 3-0. Domi took another penalty and DeBrusk scored again: 4-0 Boston.

“Little things inside the game, that’s what makes a difference this time of year,” said Keefe. “You can’t make those mistakes. The team that does ends up on the wrong side of the game.”