The Boston Bruins fell 6-4 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night in a goal-filled contest at Scotiabank Arena. Auston Matthews returned after missing six games with an upper-body injury and made an immediate impact, scoring a goal and adding two assists.
Bruins forward David Pastrnak didn’t mince words in his assessment of his team’s performance, criticizing the defense for allowing too many “easy goals.”
“Too easy. We gave up a lot of easy goals and (they) give us six goals for this. I know two of them were empty. Overall, I think, too easy, the goals they scored, I think we didn’t do much to prevent them “said Pastrnak.
The Maple Leafs took a 2-0 lead in the first two periods on goals from Jake McCabe and rookie Matthew Knies. The Bruins fought back with goals from Morgan Geekie and Trent Frederic to tie it 2-2 in the second.
Toronto regained the lead early in the third with Knies’ second of the night, but Pastrnak tied the score at 3-3 in 34 seconds. Knies then completed the hat trick at 5:28, off a one-time pass from Matthews.
At 17:55, Mitch Marner scored an empty-net goal to give his team a 5-3 lead. The Boston Bruins cut the deficit to 5-4 on Pastrnak’s second goal, but an empty-net goal by Matthews sealed the victory for the Maple Leafs.
“We have four, but we chased the whole game. So I’m not sure if that’s good. We talked about keeping the puck out of the net. And unfortunately, we had a hard time getting the puck out. They had good forehand. And they didn’t. we did.
Pastrnak identified defensive lapses and an inability to get the puck out of the defensive zone as major issues on the night.
Joseph Woll has 27 saves while Jeremy Swayman stopped 23 shots for the Boston Bruins.
HC Joe Sacco on the Boston Bruins’ 6-4 loss to the Maple Leafs
Bruins head coach Joe Sacco criticized his team’s performance in the 6-4 loss to the Maple Leafs. Sacco emphasized that the Bruins did not play hard enough, especially in the areas below the faceoff spots, and allowed Toronto to control the game in Boston’s defensive zone.
“It is difficult in this League to play catch-up hockey, but we are 2-2 going into the third and we have two errors that they take advantage of, two failures that they take advantage of. “One of us gets beat and the other we lose our slot coverage.” Sacco said.
Sacco also credited the Maple Leafs for playing hard and capitalizing on Boston’s mistakes. The Boston Bruins will face the New York Islanders on Sunday.
Edited by Debasish