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For the first time in 15 years, the Maple Leafs shut out the Boston Bruins thanks to stellar special teams play (6-for-6 PK / 3-for-7 PP) and another great performance in net from Anthony Stolarz (29 saves).

Apparently, Auston Matthews’ absence is the key to beating Boston?

Your game in 10:

1.  Before the puck was dropped in this one, the Leafs were dealt a major blow, as it was announced Auston Matthews was day-to-day with an upper-body injury. While Craig Berube assured the media that the injury was unrelated to Matthews’ previous wrist issues, the injury could keep him out through this weekend, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger.

The result was Max Domi‘s promotion to fill the void at 1C between Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies, and Pontus Holmberg sliding over to fill the newly vacated 3C spot. There was reason for quiet optimism about Domi’s promotion next to Marner, in particular; in small samples, Domi has elevated capably in Matthews’ absence, both in the regular season and playoffs against this opponent specifically. After a five-points-in-six-games start on a line with William Nylander, Domi has gone quiet offensively since his shift into the bottom six, but there is some history of opportunities like this one sparking him back to life offensively. Further, Marner tends to play some of his most focused hockey in Matthews’ absence.

2.  To start the game, the Bruins’ game plan was very clear: Shots from the point with bodies at the front of the net. A majority of the Bruins’ shot attempts in the first 10 minutes or so came from the blue line, with a few taking deflections on the way.

Anthony Stolarz held his ground early, even despite taking a stinger to the neck area from a David Pastrnak shot on a Bruins power play. Throughout the first month of the season, Stolarz has almost always been sharp early in games, posting a .945 save percentage in the first periods of his nine starts to date (91 shots against total). His preparation and ability to immediately dial it in from puck drop has set the Leafs up for success in those starts.

3.  The rest of the period featured few quality chances for either team. Moneypuck recorded the expected goals at 1.08-0.49 in favour of Boston through 20 minutes, but 0.73 of the Bruins’ expected goals came on this shot from Charlie Coyle:

The Leafs took an early too-many-men penalty, but Marner made a nice defensive play to force a turnover and draw a tripping call, negating the PK before nearly setting up Matthew Knies at the doorstep for a redirect on the abbreviated Leafs power play.

In general, it was a little-between-the-teams period at five-on-five. Both teams were playing very tight defensive games, clogging up the neutral zone and not allowing much of anything in the middle of the ice — similar to last year’s playoff series wherein the Leafs outscored Boston 11-10 at five-on-five over seven games but lost the series on special teams (6-1 in the Bruins’ favour). However, the special-teams script would flip in this one.

4.   As is often the case, the game opened up a little bit in the second period. There was action at both ends after an early penalty kill by the Leafs. William Nylander had an opportunity in front but slightly bobbled the puck, and Oliver Ekman-Larson barely missed John Tavares for a backdoor tap-in before OEL scrambled back to stop a breakaway opportunity after a Morgan Rielly turnover.

In general, the pace was higher, and the intensity ramped up after a cagey first period. On the broadcast, Gord Miller described it as “two big heavy teams playing big heavy hockey.” Max Pacioretty would soon help spark the team offensively by continuing to bring precisely that brand of hockey to the ice for the Maple Leafs.

5.  Special team play has been under a microscope in Toronto, specifically the power play (for good reason), as the struggles clearly carried over from the end of last season. Finally, the Leafs managed to score 5v4 in back-to-back games, as they swung this game with two quick power-play goals in the middle of the second period on penalties drawn by Pacioretty and Jake McCabe.

Pacioretty, in particular, deserves a shutout for his continued physical engagement that is influencing games for the better, even if it doesn’t always show up on the scoresheet. His hard but clean hit (as ruled by the officials after a review) on Andrew Peeke dropped the Bruins to five defensemen for most of the game. His driving to the net in a nothing situation also drew the ire of Nikita Zadorov, setting the stage for the 1-0 Leafs goal.

Matthew Knies gathered the puck behind the net and cycled it back to Marner at the point, where Marner danced around and then dropped it to Morgan Rielly. #44’s accurate wrister found its way through an effective Knies screen, off the crossbar, and in to open the scoring.

6.  When you’re hot, you’re hot. You have to be good to be lucky, and William Nylander is a pretty good hockey player.

Again, Matthew Knies was making it hard on the Bruins defenders in front, which was a big theme in the power-play success throughout the game. When Knies claims his ice, few defenders in the league can move him — not even the 6’5 Brandon Carlo, as seen on the Leafs’ first two PP goals. Matthews in the lineup or not, Knies is (or should be) cementing a place as one of the five members of PP1 with his net-front work.

This goal is the Leafs’ third straight goal on the power play dating back to Sunday’s game against the Wild. The Leafs have now more than doubled their power play goal total in the last three days. This is a really tight league at five-on-five — it’s simply too hard to overcome a basement-calibre power play — and the man advantage must be a differentiating factor for a team with the Leafs’ offensive talent, as it was tonight.

7.  As for the Leafs’ own penalty issues, both teams took five penalties through 40 minutes and six overall. That moves the Leafs into the fourth-most penalties taken per 60, to go along with maintaining their second-worst penalty differential in the league (-9).

The Tanev boarding call was a tough one; Pastrnak turned at the last second, and while the onus is squarely on the hitter now in the NHL in those kinds of situations, that doesn’t negate the reality of the speed the game is played at or how hard it is to halt your momentum in order to pull out of a check in a split second’s notice. Domi could’ve stuck with his man better coming off the wall to pre-empt it, but the Domi slash late in the second period could be filed under “necessary penalty to take,” given it negated a scoring chance right in front for David Pastrnak.

The too-many-men was an unacceptable mistake but also the Leafs’ first bench minor of the year. It’s the sloppy stick infractions that — while sometimes debatable — really need addressing in general. The Leafs have taken an inordinate number of high-sticking penalties, in particular, which are close to automatic calls in the league.

The Leafs have never been a team to draw many calls, but they typically don’t take very many either (last year, it was 3.83 taken/60 vs. 3.81 drawn/60). They got away with it tonight, but it’s an issue they need to get under control.

8.  The Bruins pressed in the third, as you might expect. Part of it was due to more 5v4 opportunities; part was because of score effects. To the Leafs’ credit, the defense held up, and when it didn’t, Anthony Stolarz did his job.

Stolarz was a major reason why the Bruins went 0/6 on the man advantage. The Leafs naturally shaded toward Pastrnak, which resulted in a couple of chances for the Bruins’ other threats. Marchand had a nice one-timer that Stolarz shot across to save, McAvoy fired a couple of big shots from the point, and Coyle had some chances from the low slot, but Stolarz stood tall.

Marner was also really effective on the PK, disrupting some of the Bruins’ attempts to work the puck low to high or maneuver freely at the top of the zone with his anticipation and stick-checking. After a marginal role on it to start the season, David Kampf is starting to win over the new coaching staff’s trust with his PK (and faceoff) work, playing over seven minutes tonight while shorthanded, which put him at a season-high (by a lot) 16:23. Matthews-Marner has begun to hit its stride shorthanded, but it’s also worth remembering that when the Leafs’ PK was at its best under Dean Chynoweth, it was often Marner-Kampf leading the way among the forward duos.

9.   At 5v5, this was a sound defensive team effort. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Bruins logged a whopping two high-danger chances, the Leafs’ best showing of the season in the category — partly because there were only 38 minutes of five-on-five time due to the high penalty count, but also because the Leafs limited chances against with their positional discipline up the ice, their neutral zone structure, and their defense/competitiveness in their own zone that kept the Bruins largely to the perimeter.

The Jake McCabe – Chris Tanev pairing added another feather to their cap early in the season regarding their shutdown bona fides, limiting the Marchand-Lindholm-Pastrnak line to exactly one scoring chance (not high-danger) and two shots on goal in ~6.5 minutes. The Bruins stuck with the loaded-up top line ahead of tonight’s game—a sensible call with Matthews out of the lineup—but this D pairing plus the Marner-led top line kept a lid on them and set the table for the Leafs to win the game on special teams.

10.   As the game was winding down, the Leafs added an insurance marker with their third (!!!!) 5v4 goal of the game. Knies’ seventh of the year came off a tip in front on a Nylander shot.

These are exactly the types of plays Berube has called for on the man advantage — not seeking out the perfect play but firing a puck into a good area for a tip or a quality screen. The Leafs were urgent about funneling pucks to the net and attacking the crease area via shots on goal with traffic or direct plays into the low slot throughout the game on the man advantage. Bizarrely, they’re over 30% on the power play when Matthews isn’t in the lineup. It seems to instill a little more simplicity and urgency while emboldening more players not named Matthews to shoot/not defer as much.

Steven Lorentz then added an empty-netter to get us to the final score of 4-0, as Stolarz picked up his first shutout as a Leaf, and the Leafs recorded their first clean sheet against the Bruins since December 19, 2009.

Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts

Heat Map: 5v5 Shot Attempts

Game Highlights w/ Joe Bowen & Jim Ralph Commentary

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