(Boston) Jake DeBrusk had two goals and an assist and the Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-1 on Saturday in the first game of this first-round NHL series.
View the match summary
John Beecher, Brandon Carlo and Trent Frederic, in an empty net, also scored for Boston, which got 35 saves from Jeremy Swayman.
Brad Marchand and Charile McAvoy had two assists each for the Bruins, undefeated in four games against the Leafs in the regular season.
David Kampf responded for Toronto. Ilya Samsonov stopped 19 shots.
Leafs winger William Nylander was out with an unspecified injury.
Game number 2 will be presented Monday evening, once again at TD Garden.
Toronto won its first postseason series in 19 years last spring, before losing in the second round to the Florida Panthers.
Boston had a record-breaking 2022-23 campaign, but fell victim to the Panthers to start the playoffs a year ago.
Toronto and Boston meet in the first round for the fourth time in the last 12 years.
The Bruins won the previous three series – in 2013, 2018 and 2019 – in seven games each time.
Boston took a 1-0 lead at 2:26 of the first period when Beecher scored his first career playoff goal on a two-on-one.
The Maple Leafs gave up a power play to start the second period.
Shortly after, a shot from superstar Auston Matthews hit the post.
Matthews led the league with 69 goals this season.
Carlo scored with a veiled shot at 5:47 in the second period to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead.
DeBrusk scored his first goal of the evening at 15:02 of the same period, while Matthews was punished for a high stick.
He added a goal 2:32 later, also with a man advantage.