The fans at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto were buzzing prior to Game 3 on Monday evening. It was the Maple Leafs' first playoff home game since 2004 and they hoped to be elated once the night was over. The ecstasy never came as the Leafs were run out of the building by the Boston Bruins in a 5-2 victory. Toronto will look to even the series on Wednesday in Game 4.
"If we want to be blatantly honest, we made some mistakes that ended up in our net," Toronto coach Randy Carlyle said after the game. "When you do that, usually you end up on the wrong side of the score. In the playoffs, you can't give the opposition (chances). I'm not taking it away from the Bruins, that they didn't earn it, but when you make mistakes with the puck that lead to Grade-A scoring chances and they score, those are tough ones for our group."
He did note that the work ethic was there from his squad. "I thought our work ethic was really strong," Carlyle noted. "We worked hard and did a lot of good things, but our execution level and the mistakes we made aren't going to allow us to win a hockey game playing like that. [Boston Bruins goalie Tuuka] Rask played well ... he made the stops he needed to make and I don't think we had enough traffic at the net and enough concentration of offensive zone time."
The game saw the re-emergence of Boston's top line of David Krejci, Milan Lucic, and Nathan Horton. The trio ended the night with a combined eight points on the night, including two goals. There was a great deal of criticism aimed at Lucic and Krejci for their inconsistent production at the end of the regular season.
"[Krejci] is a good player and maybe he does fly under the radar for a lot of people, but he certainly doesn't fly under the radar for us," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "He's very creative and, not only that, he doesn't get intimidated by physicality. He'll make plays and go into dirty areas and he's a playmaker. But he goes about his job quietly."
Prediction: Boston wins 3-1.
TV: NHLN-US, CBC, RDS, NESN
Start Time: 7 PM EST
Watch Live Stream HERE.
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