Who does NHL 24 have coming out on top in this legendary playoff rivalry?
Who does NHL 24 have coming out on top in this legendary playoff rivalry?
For the third time in the last seven years, the Maple Leafs and Boston face off in the first round. The Bruins have owned the Leafs in the playoffs, winning six straight playoff series against them. Toronto's last win against Boston in the playoffs came all the way back in 1959.
Toronto also didn't have much success against them this season, and last year for that matter. Boston beat the Leafs in their four meetings, outscoring them 15-7. In 2022-23, the Leafs went 1-2-1 against them.
The Maple Leafs track record against Boston in recent years will have Leafs Nation chewing off their fingernails as they watch their team hopefully advance past the first round for the second straight year.
Well, good news Leafs fans. After simulating Toronto vs Boston, NHL 24 has the blue and white coming out on top with a 4-1 series victory.
The Leafs lost the first game 5-4 in overtime, but rattled off four wins in a row, largely due to the play in net by Ilya Samsonov. The Maple Leafs netminder finished the series with a .934 save percentage and a 2.10 goals-against-average.
Other top performers were Toronto's top goal scorer Auston Matthews, scoring in four out of the five games and recording eight points. Free agent signees Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi, who were brought in for being playoff performers, had a first-round series every Leafs fan would hope to see in real life, both finishing with seven points.
On the losing side, Boston's captain Brad Marchand did everything in his power for his team. He led the series in scoring with four goals and nine points. The most disappointing player was David Pastrnak, who ended up with only two assists and held without a goal in the series.
The CPU coach stuck with Jeremy Swayman in net for the entire series, which probably was a mistake. He finished with a 3.83 goals-against-average and a .871 save percentage, allowing 20 goals. We know that in the real-life series if Swayman were to struggle this much then Jim Montgomery would make the switch to Linus Ullmark.
We believe that the matchup will be much closer and has the potential to go another seven games. However, I'm sure every Leafs fan would gladly take this outcome in real life. Toronto and Boston get their series started Saturday night at 8pm EST.
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Related: Auston Matthews and Juraj Slafkovsky Upgraded in NHL 24 Roster Update; Lane Hutson Added