Bruins

Bruins drop final regular season game, will play Maple Leafs in 1st round of Stanley Cup Playoffs

This marks the fourth postseason meeting between the Bruins and Maple Leafs since the 2013 season.

The Bruins and Maple Leafs will battle in the playoffs for the first time since 2019. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff

April 16, 2024

A tale as old as time.

Once again, it’s going to be Bruins vs. Maple Leafs in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Bruins locked themselves into a matchup with their Original Six foe on Tuesday after letting their hold on the Atlantic Division slip away in Game 82 of the regular-season docket.

And so we meet again. pic.twitter.com/4ntDQ62Xzp
— x – Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) April 17, 2024

Boston (47-20-15, 109 points) fell to the Ottawa Senators at TD Garden, while the Florida Panthers leapfrogged Boston in the standings after winning their game against Toronto, 5-2.

As a result, the Panthers (51-24-6, 110 points) won the Atlantic Division, and will now play the top Wild Card team in the Eastern Conference in the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Despite relinquishing the divisional crown, there was a compelling case to be made for the Bruins to drop Tuesday’s game in order to face Toronto over a seasoned Tampa Bay team.

The Bruins have historically had Toronto’s number in the postseason, including three seven-game triumphs over the Leafs in 2013, 2018, and 2019.

Some of that postseason success has also carried over into the regular season as of late, with Boston winning its last seven games against Toronto. In their four wins over the Leafs during the 2023-24 regular season, Boston outscored Toronto, 14-7, and cashed in on 30 percent of its power-play opportunities.

Much like the Lightning, the Maple Leafs are still bolstered by one of the best top-six units in the league — headlined by 69-goal scorer Auston Matthews, William Nylander (97 points), and Mitch Marner (84 points).

Toronto is still saddled with a familiar flaw down the other end of the ice, however. The Maple Leafs rank 18th in the NHL in goals against per game (3.13) and 24th overall in terms of penalty-kill percentage at 76.3 percent.

Still, the Maple Leafs are a potent offensive team that will test Boston’s goalie duo of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman — as well as a Bruins’ D-zone structure that has been prone to critical lapses in Grade-A ice this season.

Regardless of whether or not the Bruins were going to draw Toronto or Tampa, Brad Marchand stressed on Tuesday that the team wasn’t changing its postseason approach based on matchups.

“It doesn’t matter who it is throughout the entire playoffs,” Marchand noted. “Everybody’s good. Everyone is in the playoffs for a reason. I mean, you see it every night, you saw it tonight. Doesn’t matter who you play. Any team can win if you’re not prepared to play and that’s the same with playoffs. … It’s gonna be tough regardless.

“But we’re excited. We earned a spot in playoffs and we have an opportunity play for a Cup. And that’s all you want to start to hear. So we’re excited to get going, regardless of who we play.”