By sticking with Jeremy Swayman for his second straight start Saturday night in Toronto, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery bucked the trend he had established for his netminders for well over two full months.
Swayman’s performance through two starts, with a playoff-best .955 save performance, in this series may have been reason enough. The Bruins and Maple Leafs were also given an extra day of rest between Games 3 and 4 as a means to get Game 4 on Hockey Night in Canada, which truly only benefitted Swayman, who has started more sets of two games in four nights than two games in three nights in 2023-24. There was also the ‘mental’ aspect that Montgomery and the Bruins had started to acknowledge as potentially real for Swayman in this head-to-head with the Maple Leafs after five straight wins on the year, especially in the aftermath of Max Domi accidentally on purpose bumping Swayman in Game 3.
But no matter the reasoning or rationale, it was a decision and challenge that Swayman and the Bruins not only accepted but downright dominated by way of a 3-1 final to give the Bruins a 3-1 series lead heading back to Boston.
Apr 24, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Bruins forward Brad Marchand (63) carries the puck against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the second period of the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena. (John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports)
Up by one through two minutes of play, the Bruins made Max Domi pay for what was a downright careless crosschecking penalty against the Bruins’ David Pastrnak, and with the strike from chief Toronto villain Brad Marchand.
On what was a beautiful passing sequence, with some loose puck battles won along the way, the Bruins hit a wide-open Marchand for a clean look on Samsonov that was ripped into the Toronto cage for a lead-doubling strike.
The goal was Marchand’s 56th career playoff goal, breaking him out of a tie with Cam Neely for the most in team history.
But Marchand and the Bruins were not done with their second-period scoring.
As the Leafs’ Jake McCabe inexplicably stepped up on a hit on Pavel Zacha in the waning moments of the period, it took all of a second for McCabe’s decision to backfire, as it opened the door for a two-on-one chance for Marchand and David Pastrnak, and with Pastrnak fed by Marchand for an easy goal on Samsonov.
Apr 27, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; The pucks sit on the board during the warmup before game four of the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. (Nick Turchiaro/USA TODAY Sports)
While the Bruins stuck with the same lineup they iced in Game 3, Saturday’s Game 4 did come with some tweaks for the Maple Leafs. The Leafs welcomed William Nylander back after the 98-point scorer missed the first three games of this series with an undisclosed injury, which has been rumored to be everything from a back ailment to migraines. And on the backend, the Leafs made one switch, with T.J. Brodie thrown back into the mix for the Leafs.
Nylander finished with three shots and two hits in over 22 minutes of time on ice, but took an absolutely brutal third-period penalty that derailed the Leafs’ momentum with the Bruins downright drowning in their own end.
Game 5 is set for 7 p.m. at TD Garden on Tuesday night .
