Bruins’ dramatic victory over Leafs offers a glimpse of tough road ahead — and the thrill of another Cup run

COMMENTARY

A.J. Greer has seven seasons of pro hockey under his belt.

He’s played 74 games in the NHL ranks, splitting those appearances across three franchises.

Greer’s odometer from years of travel across North America is extensive. But despite the various stops made across his career, the 26-year-old winger has yet to play under the bright lights of playoff hockey.

He’ll need to wait a bit longer with his current team. But Saturday’s bout between the Bruins and Maple Leafs served as a tantalizing preview of what awaits on Causeway Street come the spring.

“It’s Bruins hockey,” Greer said following Boston’s dramatic 4-3 victory over Toronto. “It’s electric.”

Forty games still stand between the 33-5-4 Bruins and the commencement of another Stanley Cup campaign.

Saturday’s showdown felt like more than just another regular-season tuneup, however.

From the opening bellows of Todd Angilly’s stirring anthem duties to the victorious embrace of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, the decibel meter rarely dipped within Boston’s barn.

There was little reason for that raucous cacophony to subside.

Not in a game where Nick Foligno and Wayne Simmonds dropped the gloves in a heavyweight scrap, bringing close to 20,000 fans out of their seats. 

Not when both Ullmark and Matt Murray staved off momentum-shifting tallies by way of multiple Grade-A stops.

Not when stars draped in both gold and blue sweaters delivered in critical junctures, be it David Pastrnak’s five-hole finisher or Auston Matthews’ elevated snipe near Boston’s crease.

It was a perfect symphony of playoff hockey, punctuated by a final crescendo as soon as Matt Grzelcyk’s volley sailed into twine in the 58th minute of play.

“I think the game meant more to us than I imagined before the game,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said postgame. “I think that’s my biggest takeaway. And I’m glad it did. We’re proud of not having lost two in a row.

“And there was a purpose to what we were doing, not only because it was the second-place team in Toronto that we were playing. But we don’t want to lose two in a row. Because you get into a playoff, you lose two in a row, you’re in a little bit of a hole.”

There was little surprise over the lack of pleasantries exchanged between Boston and Toronto on the frozen sheet.

Beyond the standings (Boston and Toronto are first and third, respectively, in total points this season), any tilt between these Original Six teams serves as a barometer for what awaits in April and May.

For a Toronto franchise that has seen many promising campaigns thwarted by the Black and Gold, a regular-season victory offers hope that those postseason woes might be reversed in 2023.

And for Boston, any matchup against Toronto reinforces the challenge ahead once the calendar flips to the postseason and multiple teams aim to topple the B’s miraculous run.

“I think it is a rivalry,” Patrice Bergeron said. “Yes, Original Six. But I think we’ve seen these guys many times over the course of the last decade or so, even more. A lot of games, playoff series. And when that happens, there is a rivalry that gets established.”

Toronto’s futility against the Bruins during postseason play has become a tired punchline at this point. But after nearly besting the Lighting in a seven-game slugfest last May, this Toronto team is poised to put another powerhouse on the ropes in the coming months.

The Leafs’ undoing has usually revolved around a roster heavy on high-end skill, and hollow in defensive fortitude.

That hasn’t been the case in 2022-23 for one of Boston’s top roadblocks in the East.

Yes, Toronto is still buoyed by an elite core of forwards headlined by Auston Matthews. But this seasoned roster has reinforced itself in its own end, ranking fourth in the NHL in goals against per game (2.64).

Sooner or later, this Toronto team will break through. The Bruins are hoping the Leafs’ good fortune doesn’t come at their own determinant.

Just don’t count the Bruins as a team dreading a potential collision course with the Leafs further down the road.

Not in a season where little has steered a motivated dressing room off course.

And especially not after Saturday’s win — a fitting precursor to what should be a memorable playoff run for this veteran core.

“It’s a matter of time for them where they’re gonna make a really good push, and they’re gonna go deep. They’re just too talented,” Brad Marchand said of Toronto Saturday morning. “You want to play against competitive teams. I think with our group, we have a lot of really competitive guys who want to win. To win and be the best, you have to beat the best.

“It makes it more fun playing against teams like Toronto who are really competitive and have star players that you want to go up, and you want to compete against, and you want to beat them. It always makes it a lot of fun.”

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