Patrice Bergeron (left) and Boston pulled off a comeback for the ages against Toronto. (Brian Babineau/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

You might see the agony on James Reimer’s face as you watch him on TV or look at him in pictures, but you can’t begin to imagine what was going through his mind. Or Phil Kessel’s. Or Cody Franson’s.

They had it. The Maple Leafs had it! Game 7, on the road, in Boston. A 4-1 lead over an exhausted, depleted Bruins squad midway through the third. Control, absolute control. It was just a matter of running out the clock before Toronto booked a date in the second round with the New York Rangers. With home ice. Home ice!

And then, just like that, everything changed.

Read More…

Brad Marchand, Boston’s regular-season scoring leader, has produced just two assists against Toronto. (Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

Five quick thoughts on the players and situations that could have an impact on tonight’s must-watch Game 7 between the Bruins and Maple Leafs (7 p.m. ET on CNBC), one of two winner-takes-all matchups on tap tonight:

1. Reimer’s goaltending: Has any goaltender stepped up his game in the playoffs to the same degree as Toronto’s James Reimer? After a rough start in Game 1, his save percentage (.932) has climbed higher than what he posted during the regular season (.924), all while facing 237 shots through six games, an average of 39.5 per game. He’s stopped 72 of the last 74 he’s faced, holding the Bruins to a single goal in each of the past two games as the Leafs staved off elimination. Reimer is playing his best hockey of the season at the most critical juncture. If he maintains this level, the Leafs win Game 7.

MUIR: Five keys for Rangers vs. Capitals

2. Gardiner’s surprising play: The must-watch player tonight? Toronto’s Jake Gardiner. Two weeks ago, he wasn’t regarded as one of Toronto’s top-six blueline options, but a finger injury suffered by Mike Kostka in Game 1 opened the door. After a nervous debut in Game 2, Gardiner has been a revelation, changing the complexion of Toronto’s transition game with his speed and passing skills and giving Boston’s defenders fits with his daring raids deep into their zone as a fourth attacker. The confidence and imagination he displayed om Sunday night was staggering, but he’s still a work in progress. It’ll be interesting to see if coach Randy Carlyle keeps the green light turned on, or if he tries to rein Gardiner in … and if he does, what impact that will have on Toronto’s attack.

Read More…

Toronto’s Phil Kessel (right) scored the winning goal against his former club in Game 6. (Graig Abel/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

It wasn’t the best night for Toronto’s Nazem Kadri in the face-off circle. Forced into a greater role by the last-minute scratch of top center Tyler Bozak, Kadri lost 13 of his 16 draws.

But all anyone will remember is that he won the one that mattered. And he did it by beating the best in the game.

With the draw deep in the Boston zone after an icing call, Kadri smoked Patrice Bergeron. Seconds later, the puck was on the stick of Phil Kessel, who fired it past Tuukka Rask at 8:59 of the third. The goal held up as the game winner as the Maple Leafs beat the Bruins, 2-1, and sent the series back to Boston for Game 7 Monday night.

Read More…

James Reimer (right) made 43 stops to help the Maple Leafs edge the Brunis 2-1 Friday. (Charles Krupa/AP)

By Allan Muir 

While most pointed to an ill-timed pinch by Dion Phaneuf as the backbreaker in Wednesday’s crushing Game 4 loss to the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle looked instead at goaltender James Reimer and challenged him to be better.

With his team’s season on the line, the young star delivered, helping Toronto edge the Bruins 2-1 to extend their series to a sixth game at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday night.

Reimer wasn’t alone, of course. Through 40 minutes, the Leafs put together one of their finest efforts of the season, blitzing the Bruins early before a pair of individual efforts by Tyler Bozak and Clarke MacArthur gave Toronto a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

If not for the heroics of Boston netminder Tuukka Rask, who matched Reimer save for save, it could have been over early.

Some thoughts and observations on Game 5:

Read More…

Tomas Vokoun made 31 saves in a 4-0 shutout that restored the Penguins’ control of their series vs. the Islanders. (Jeanine Leech/Icon SMI)

By Allan Muir

An annotated guide to this morning’s must-read hockey stories:

• The theme of Thursday night’s action? A trio of backup goalies were forced into action at the most critical point of the year (so far). The results varied.

• Aw shucks, Sidney Crosby said. My goal wasn’t as good as the one that earned Mario Lemieux a statue. If you think about it, that’s a pretty high standard against which to compare any goal. But geez, what a beauty!

• After a 4-0 shutout of the Isles, it looks like the Penguins are Tomas Vokoun’s team now.

• The Isles say they missed defenseman Andrew MacDonald in last night’s loss, which kind of surprises me since I thought he’d looked brutal earlier in the series.

• Rick Nash has become a figure of diminishing importance for the Rangers as their series against the Caps progresses. It’s time for him to step up and prove he can contribute.

• He’s not the only superstar under the microscope. Alex Ovechkin disappeared in Games 3 and 4. Here’s the key to his return to impact form in Game 5.

Read More…

Maple Leafs fans came to party, but what they saw on the ice probably made them wish they’d kept the blindfolds on. (Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

An annotated guide to this morning’s must-read hockey stories:

• Someone forgot to tell the Bruins that Monday night was supposed to be Toronto’s party.

• Leafs Nation did its part last night. The Leafs? Not so much.

• It’s not often that the goalie is the story in a win as decisive as Boston’s, but Tuukka Rask and his 46 saves carried the day for the Bruins.

• The return of Marc Staal after two months on IR provided a huge emotional boost to the Rangers.

• The key to winning a close game for the Rangers? Shutting down Alex Ovechkin. AO threw 11 shots at New York’s net, but only two found the target. That’s how you minimize the damage.

Read More…

Current Leaf and former Bruin Phil Kessel (left) will face unprecedented scrutiny this series. (Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

EAST PREVIEWS: Pens-Islanders | Canadiens-Senators | Capitals-Rangers | Bruins-Leafs

WEST PREVIEWS: Hawks-Wild | Ducks-Red Wings | Canucks-Sharks | Blues-Kings

Regular-season recaps

Feb. 2: Bruins 1, Maple Leafs 0

March 7: Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 2

March 23: Maple Leafs 3, Bruins 2

March 25: Bruins 3, Maple Leafs 2 (SO)

Notable injuries

Bruins: RW Nathan Horton (upper body injury, day-to-day)

Maple Leafs: C Tyler Bozak (unknown, day-to-day)

Read More…

A position switch and an attitude adjustment made Alex Ovechkin a Hart Trophy candidate. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

When the NHL announces its annual All-Star teams at the league’s awards show in June, it will stick with a formula that rings a bit untrue this season. How, after all, can someone be an All-NHL player if he hasn’t played against the entire NHL?

In coming up with our end-of-regular season honors, we’ve decided that the lockout-abbreviated campaign with its intraconference-only games requires a different take, so our All-NHL teams will be broken down by conference to reflect the unique scheduling.

Here are our Eastern honorees. In case you missed them, our Western winners can be found here.

Read More…

Person of interest: Matt Cooke is still the focus of a forensics investigation ordered by Senators owner Eugene Melnyk. (Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

An annotated guide to this morning’s must-read hockey stories:

• It hasn’t skipped the attention of the Ottawa Senators that Matt Cooke will be in town tonight. Now, they say they need to focus on winning the game, but everyone knows there’s money on the board.

• Maybe Cooke shouldn’t be too worried. At least not as long as Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero is around to defend his good name.

• John Tavares needed to address these two weaknesses before he could become an MVP candidate.

• With 18 goals in its last three games, the New York Rangers’ offense is clicking at just the right time. Have to give Brad Richards most of the credit. When’s he’s on his game, the Blueshirts are a much more dangerous team.

• The Rangers needed two points yesterday. If they came at the expense of the hated Devils, and eliminated their rivals from playoff contention in the process, well, so much the better.

• The response from New Jersey: “Those were the Rangers? Yeah, we didn’t even notice.”

• The Boston Bruins got a bounce-back effort from Tuukka Rask and snapped their four-game winless skid with a 3-0 win over the Panthers. The victory moved them into first in the Northeast, but alleviated the concerns of only the most casual of fans.

• You know things are going bad for Milan Lucic when he is described as going his usual 0-0-0.

• The Bruins typically hand their sweaters over to season-ticket holders on Shirt Off Our Backs night. This year, the team had a better idea.

• Good thing the Flyers picked up Steve Mason at the deadline. He can show them the ropes on how to get the best tee times in early May and all those other things he learned playing for a non-playoff team in Columbus.

• One Flyer who has stepped up as the season’s wound down is youngster Luke Schenn…which should help the Flyers feel a bit better about sending James van Riemsdyk to the playoff-bound Leafs.

• With that spot sewn up, coach Randy Carlyle has a rare choice to make in Toronto: give key players a rest or go for the best possible seed.

• Only Toronto has been away from the postseason so long that doing a Where Are They Now? feature on the members of their last playoff team makes sense.

Read More…

Kaspars Daugavins was a Tuukka Rask toe save away from scoring what would have been a sensational shootout goal. (Chris Wattie/Reuters)

By Allan Muir

I don’t know all that much about Ottawa’s Kaspars Daugavins, but I do know this: the kid has some huge stones.

With a chance to put the Senators up by one in the shootout Monday night, Daugavins decided that tricking things up made a lot more sense than trying to beat Tuukka Rask with a nifty deke or a nasty snipe.

So instead of doing something as mundane like, you know, stick handling, he put the tip of his blade on the puck at center ice and pushed it ringette-style into the Boston zone. He mixed in a spin-o-rama for flair in front of the crease, but the season’s most creative shootout attempt ended not in glory, but with a Rask toe save.

Here’s the clip:

Read More…