5 players to watch when Bruins try to stop bleeding vs. Maple Leafs
With just one point in their last three games by way of an 0-2-1 record, the discussion around the Bruins has obviously and understandably shifted towards the immediate future and a potential deadline ‘retool’ by general manager Don Sweeney approaching the Mar. 7 trade deadline.
But even with all that talk about a lost season, and even with the math working against them by most projections and models, the Bruins are still just a single point out of a playoff spot in an Eastern Conference playoff picture and wild card race that’s yet to produce a clear runaway. The games-in-hand situation is also no longer one that’s spelling outright doom for the Bruins like it did a month ago.
In other words, the Bruins are still alive. Even if their path is a little murkier than most.
With that said, though, there’s absolutely zero wiggle room for the Bruins to leave more points on the table. And the Black and Gold will get one hell of a challenge when the Atlantic-best Maple Leafs come to town riding a two-game win streak and their first win streak over the Bruins in over three years, with back-to-back wins over Boston for the first time since a four-game ride from Nov. 2021 to Nov. 2022.
Here’s five players to keep an eye on in tonight’s showdown at TD Garden…
Elias Lindholm
In something that’s slipped under the radar a little bit here given everything else happening around the club, the Bruins have actually been getting the Elias Lindholm they thought they were signing for about a month and a half now. Dating back to Boston’s Jan. 11 win over the Panthers, Lindholm has recorded four goals and 10 points in 14 games, and had a power-play goal in last Saturday’s meeting with the Ducks.
Assuming health, if the Bruins could get that production out of Lindholm down the stretch, he could finish the season with 11 goals and 27 points over his final 38 games of the season. That’s something closer to a 60-point pace over an 82-game season, which is what the Bruins want and need out of him.
But more importantly, the Bruins need to see Lindholm have a good game against the Leafs this season, really, as he comes into this contest with zero points and a minus-5 rating in three contests against Toronto since joining the Bruins. That won’t cut it against a deep-down-the-middle Leafs squad.
Mason Lohrei
With no Charlie McAvoy and no Hampus Lindholm, and with neither player expected back anytime soon, Boston’s backend offense is going to be led by Mason Lohrei.
Lohrei certainly embraced that challenge in last Saturday’s overtime loss to the Ducks, too, with two assists and four shots on goal in 22:57 of time on ice in the point-earning effort from the B’s.
The 6-foot-5 Lohrei has actually embraced it whenever the Bruins have had to play without both McAvoy and Lindholm this season. In eight games with both players on the shelf, Lohrei has now recorded one goal and five assists, along with a plus-2 rating. In 45 games with McAvoy and/or Lindholm in the lineup with him, meanwhile, Lohrei has posted two goals and 19 points, along with a minus-16 rating.
Oliver Wahlstrom
Tuesday night will mark the 16th appearance in a Bruins uniform for Oliver Wahlstrom, with Wahlstrom slated to jump in for Justin Brazeau (healthy scratch). And at this point, Wahlstrom, who was added off waivers back in December, has to show you something to warrant these continued opportunities in the Boston lineup, right? Right? While the Bruins continue to bury players like Georgii Merkulov, Fabian Lysell, and even John Farinacci in Providence, Wahlstrom has posted just one goal and two points in 16 games with the Bruins, and has actually taken more non-fighting penalties (four) than he’s scored points.
If this is another empty kind of night from Wahlstrom, who is not going to get tons and tons of minutes to make something happen, fans’ heads might explode with frustration with this continued deployment.
Matthew Knies
It appears that the Maple Leafs may have a budding Bruins Killer in winger Matthew Knies.
After scoring two goals and an assist in last year’s seven-game series with Boston, Knies has absolutely torched the Bruins for five goals and eight points in three head-to-heads this season. He’s also coming into this game a little too quiet for comfort if you’re looking at this from a B’s scope, with a three-goal goalless skid after scoring five goals in the five games that came before the start of that dry spell.
The 6-foot-3 Knies has also shown an ability to gain inside ice and put himself in tremendous scoring spots, and that’s been a problem for the Bruins in the season series against the Maple Leafs.
Pontus Holmberg
On a team with stars like Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Mitch Marner, we’re gonna focus on — yup, you guessed it — Pontus Holmberg! You heard me: Pontus. Holmberg. Pontus Holmberg.
A lefty-shooting forward slated to skate to the left of John Tavares and Nylander on Toronto’s second line tonight, Holmberg comes into tonight’s game with three goals in his last two outings, which actually eclipses his goal total (two) through his first 43 outings of the 2024-25 season.
There’s only so much a shorthanded Boston defense can throw at the Leafs to stop their big guns, and if that’s indeed the case in this game, guys like Holmberg could have an opportunity to make some noise.
