After a meltdown of a loss on Saturday, the Toronto Maple Leafs find themselves down 3-1 in the series against the Boston Bruins.
It's a familiar tale for the Maple Leafs, now poised to lose a first-round series to the Bruins for the third time in the seven-season run of this core.
The Bruins took Game 1 on home ice, but the Maple Leafs responded with a win in Game 2 to take home ice advantage.
With an opportunity to get two wins on home ice, the Leafs instead floundered and let the Bruins take full control of the series.
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Bruins Dominate Leafs in Game 4
Bostin winger Brad Marchand continues to prove his legacy as an all-time villain not just against the Maple Leafs, but to the league as a whole.
Though it's certainly Toronto that has most felt the sting of his postseason excellence. After an excellent performance Saturday night, Marchand has 3 goals, 5 assists, and 8 points in the four games so far in this series.
The Maple Leafs' top players, on the other hand, have not shown up in this series, and frustration seemed to boil over on the team's bench last night between Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander.
Matthews even wound up leaving the game due to illness.
Boston's excellence in net and on defense have offset a lack of offensive firepower beyond Marchand and fellow star winger David Pastrnak, and head coach Jim Montgomery has coached circles around his counterpart Sheldon Keefe.
The Bruins appear built for the playoffs once again, and they look poised to cause a nightmarish offseason in Toronto that would surely lead to several firings.
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