In possible first-round preview, Bruins (again) beat the Maple Leafs

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Maybe don’t go drawing up that first-round playoff matchup between the Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins.

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It’s looking like the Atlantic Division rivals will meet in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and from the way the Bruins have handled the Leafs in the regular season, you might want to look away.

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After spanking the Leafs 4-1 in Toronto on Monday, the Bruins did it again in Boston on Thursday, coming out of a physically intense game with a 4-1 victory at TD Garden.

The Bruins have won the past seven meetings between the teams, including all four in 2023-24. That might not matter if the clubs square off in the post-season, but the lousy record won’t have the Leafs brimming with confidence either.

“There is no concern (about failing to beat the Bruins and then potentially seeing them in the playoffs),” Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly told media in Boston. “We will be ready to go. You want to build your game and get going in the right direction. We’re a month away and still lots to improve upon and lots of runway left in the season.”

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Yes, the flu bug is working its way through the Leafs, and yes, the Leafs arrived in the wee hours after beating Buffalo in overtime at home on Wednesday. Players hate to use excuses, though, and we won’t either.

The loss might have carried an extra kick to the gut, as first-line winger Matthew Knies left the game in the first period following a collision with Bruins captain Brad Marchand.

While it might have appeared to be an accidental-on-purpose hit on the part of Marchand, there was no penalty on the play, and Knies didn’t return after Marchand’s left shoulder caught him in the head.

A Knies injury would be bad for the Leafs at any time, but with the National Hockey League trade deadline on Friday at 3 p.m., there suddenly could be more pressure on general manager Brad Treliving to acquire a forward. And keep in mind, too, that Knies suffered a concussion in the playoffs last spring when Sam Bennett of the Florida Panthers threw him to the ice.

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Coach Sheldon Keefe had no update on Knies after the game.

What did he think of the contact between Knies and Marchand?

“Two guys who are going for the same ice and don’t really see each other,” Keefe said. “I think their guy realizes he is on the tracks quicker than our guy does and prepares for it, but I think that’s all I see there.”

In third period, Max Domi tackled Marchand, perhaps in retaliation, and went to the box for roughing.

The Knies injury, no matter the severity, shouldn’t overshadow another concern: The Leafs’ best players — Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander — again were not offensive game-changers against the Bruins.

Sure, Boston doesn’t make it easy to create offence, their players track well and play as a tight unit, but the big-name performers are paid to find a way through that. This week, that didn’t happen.

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TAKEAWAYS AND OTHER THINGS

Here’s a cold, hard fact for those who think Joseph Woll should be the Leafs’ No. 1 goalie: Ilya Samsonov, right now, is the better of the two. Woll got both starts against the Bruins this week, a fairly obvious indication that the coaching staff wants him to take the reins, and he was not great in either. On Thursday, the fourth Bruins goal, by Brandon Carlo, came on a point shot that shouldn’t have gone in. The second, by Woll’s childhood pal Trent Frederic, also was stoppable. Frederic got a breakaway after stripping Nylander at the Bruins blue line and beat Woll between the legs. Nylander, who should have known better, screwed around with the puck and then wasn’t bailed out by Woll. Samsonov, meanwhile, has been more sharp with each outing … In three starts against the Bruins this season, Woll allowed four goals in each … Keefe after the game: “Credit to Boston, they played a good game, but I liked a lot of things about our game, in particular the competitiveness of our team in what was far and away the most physical game we’ve played this season. We don’t like the result at all, but I like that our guys stood in there.” … The Carlo goal came 67 seconds after Morgan Geekie scored on a power play … Tyler Bertuzzi won a fight against Parker Wotherspoon in the second period. Bertuzzi has to take that kind of feisty snot (Treliving’s word, not ours) into the playoffs. Bertuzzi took Knies’ spot on the top line, and the trio had a defensively responsible night … Marner’s power-play goal at 7:56 of the second ended an 0-for-11 skid by the Leafs with a man advantage. It marked the fourth time in his NHL career that Marner has scored 25 goals in a season. When it was 2-1 Boston, Marner had an open and chose not to shoot … John Tavares was back on the top power-play unit. He should stay there … The bank pass off the boards that Timothy Liljegren made to Marner was the kind of play that could help keep the defenceman in the lineup when (or if) all of them are healthy. After Rielly, Liljegren has the best offensive instincts among Toronto blueliners … The Bruins took a 1-0 lead at 5:37 of the first period on a 5-on-3 power play, and it was a strange sequence that put them up two men. Better way to put it, it seemed to be an error on the part of referees Jake Brenk and Francis Charron that resulted in two Leafs in the box, when it probably should have been Jake McCabe off on a double minor. McCabe was called for interference on Jake DeBrusk and should have been penalized as well for cross-checking Marchand. Instead, Knies was sent to the box for roughing and the Leafs were down two. David Pastrnak, who loves to kill the Leafs, scored on a one-timer off a pass from DeBrusk … Does Keefe get into the conversation for the Jack Adams Award? With the injuries on the blue line that the team has navigated — and keep in mind it’s not a great corps when fully healthy — and the goaltending issues, yes, he should be part of that chatter. Top three or five? Probably not. The Leafs were eighth overall in the NHL in points before games on Thursday. That has to count for something for Keefe … Defenceman Joel Edmundson, acquired from the Washington Capitals, was slated to join the Leafs around the time the game started. While Keefe hinted Edmundson could get in because of the bug that is making its way through the room, that didn’t happen, so count on Edmundson making his Leafs debut on Saturday in Montreal against the Canadiens. The Leafs moved Conor Timmins to longterm injured reserve from injured reserve to make financial room for Edmundson … McCabe was back in the lineup after he sat out against Buffalo because he was sick, but there were no other changes (William Lagesson, who played in McCabe’s spot versus the Sabres, was placed on waivers). “We have not got it bad enough at one particular time,” Keefe said of the pesky illness hitting the team. “It has been two or three guys at a time and it has not really run through the entire team. We hope this is it. We can manage it. We have in the past.”

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