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BOSTON – It was one of the lighter games with a tough road ahead, but the Bruins could not pick up two points.
The Boston Bruins (39-24-8) lost on home ice for the second time in 2026, falling 4-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs (30-29-13) on Tuesday night. Elias Lindholm scored his 14th goal of the season, Charlie McAvoy added a power play goal, and Jeremy Swayman made 32 saves, but, as Marco Sturm said:
“Overall, the whole game was full of disappointment.”
“We were okay in the first,” Elias Lindholm said after the game. “Second period, our power play was terrible. It killed the momentum, and obviously, they got way more chances and momentum from that. So, yeah, our special teams were not good enough tonight.”
The Bruins’ power play was a strength earlier in the season, but it has since held them back. The Bruins went 1-for-5 on Tuesday; they are now 7-for-48 (14.6%) since the Olympic break.
They drew three straight power plays to start the second period, but they could not convert on any of them. To make matters worse, Matthew Knies scored shorthanded. That is the third shorthanded goal that the Bruins have given up since returning in late February.
“Just turnovers,” Charlie McAvoy said after the game. “Just forcing stuff is what it felt like. Once we get in, and we have possession, obviously, we did have a couple grade A’s that (Stolarz) made some unreal saves on. But when we get in, and we do settle down, you know, when we get into our sets, we just have to execute.”
“They had more chances than we did on our power play, so that’s not okay at all.”
On the scoresheet, the Maple Leafs went 2-for-4 on their power play. Their first goal came on a 4-on-3 late in the second period. Their second one was an empty-netter with 21.7 seconds left, while both teams were at 5-on-5.
Marco Sturm said he did not want to pick on the power play specifically, though. That was just one thing that went wrong.
“I think Swayman was pretty much the only guy,” Sturm said after the game. “I think he played his norm. Other than that, you can pick areas, you can pick players. Unfortunately, we didn’t have it today. We could talk about whatever we want, but it was just overall, it was just, unfortunately, not good enough.”
Swayman finished with a 1.80 goals saved above expected and stopped eight high-danger shots, per Natural Stat Trick.
“We just have to play, first of all, better in front of him,” Sturm added. “And also, take care of playing good defense. We’ve been spoiled, maybe that, too. Even the games we’ve won, if you look at the expected goals against, it just was a little bit high, and we got spoiled by our goalies. So I think hopefully it’s going to be a little bit of a wakeup call.”
“Like today, you can’t give up over 10 odd-man rushes against. You just can’t. Two is already a lot [per] game. I think we had 12 today. That says all [about] how our game was today.”
The Bruins also struggled to generate offense at 5-on-5. In every period, the Maple Leafs had more attempts, shots, and high-danger chances. The Bruins did not register one high-danger chance in the third period.
They finished the game with 20 shots on goal.
After the game, Charlie McAvoy and Nikita Zadorov said the team was “flat.”
With a tough stretch ahead, the Bruins could not afford to look flat on Tuesday night. The Maple Leafs were the lowest-ranked team remaining on their schedule.
The Bruins are now up against a gauntlet, and it starts on Wednesday.
“That’s the best part of being in this league,” Zadorov said after the game. “You can redeem yourself the next day. It’s a big battle. We got smacked there last time we went there. Down the road, they’re a good hockey team. Possibly see them down the stretch in the playoffs as well, so I think it’s a big divisional rivalry for us for sure.”
The Bruins are off to Buffalo, NY, for the second leg of their back-to-back. They will face the Atlantic Division leading Buffalo Sabres (44-20-7), who are playing for the first seed in the conference.
The Bruins sit in the first wildcard spot, and according to MoneyPuck, have a 63.7% chance of making the playoffs. Those odds will change again after Wednesday’s game in Buffalo.
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The post ‘Our Power Play Was Terrible’: Breaking Apart Bruins Loss to Maple Leafs appeared first on Boston Hockey Now.
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