The Boston Bruins will host the Toronto Maple Leafs for Game 1 at TD Garden Saturday night.
The most wonderful time of the year is finally here.
The Boston Bruins will open the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs Saturday at TD Garden with an 8 p.m. puck drop against the Toronto Maple Leafs, marking a new chapter in the storied Original Six rivalry.
“Pumped. Can’t wait…This is what you play for,” Charlie McAvoy said Friday. “It’s time to go to work and it’s all business here. We have an expectation for our group, and we get to start this journey.”
While the Bruins swept the regular-season series against the Leafs 4-0 this year, the playoffs present a whole new challenge in which past success means close to nothing.
Boston closed out the regular season with two losses – falling 2-0 to the Washington Capitals and 3-1 to the Ottawa Senators – but Bruins coach Jim Montgomery feels good about where his team is ahead of Game 1.
“I like where we’re at. I feel we’re prepared, I feel we know what our game plan is, how we need to play,” Montgomery said Friday. “Now it’s up to us to go and execute and have a great effort to be able to win in the playoffs.”
Montgomery has not revealed who the starting goaltender will be, nor if the Bruins will stick to the rotation they’ve used all year. Linus Ullmark has a 2.57 goals against average and .915 save percentage through 40 games, while Jeremy Swayman has a 2.53 GAA and .916 SV% through 44 games.
“One of the guys wearing pads,” Montgomery said Saturday when asked which netminder would get the nod.
Boston’s backend will come into Game 1 the same way it ended the regular season, notably with Hampus Lindholm remaining on the first pair with McAvoy. The two top D-men’s size, physicality and offensive-mindedness has complemented each other well since Montgomery made the switch earlier this month.
“He’s a great player. I think we can feed off each other pretty well,” Lindholm said Saturday of McAvoy. “He’s a good skater getting up in the rush and making plays…create some offense too, and obviously shutting guys down as well.”
Matt Grzelcyk moved down to the second pair with Brandon Carlo, and Kevin Shattenkirk is skating with Andrew Peeke on the third pair. Parker Wotherspoon was the extra defenseman during Saturday’s practice.
Rookie forward Johnny Beecher is back up from AHL Providence and will make his NHL playoff debut Saturday. Beecher is on the fourth line with Jesper Boqvist and Pat Maroon.
“Intensity, 1-on-1 battles. That was an area we felt he needed to go down and focus on. It’s an area that’s drastically improved,” Montgomery said Saturday of Beecher. “His face-offs, his penalty killing has always been something that we really value…It’s a whole new world today, it’s playoffs. We’ll see how it goes tonight.”
Montgomery is sticking to the new-look power play units he put together at the end of the regular season as the Bruins were struggling to convert on the man advantage. Shattenkirk is up on the first unit with Danton Heinen, Maroon, David Pastnrak and Pavel Zacha. McAvoy and Brad Marchard moved to the second unit with Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk and Morgan Geekie.
Boston’s projected lineup:
Danton Heinen-Pavel Zacha-David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand-Charlie Coyle-Jake DeBrusk
Jakub Lauko-Morgan Geekie-Trent Frederic
Johnny Beecher-Jesper Boqvist-Pat Maroon
Hampus Lindholm-Charlie McAvoy
Matt Grzelcyk-Brandon Carlo
Kevin Shattenkirk-Andrew Peeke
Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swayman
Five things to know about the Maple Leafs:
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