Now that’s how you start a playoff series.
The Toronto Maple Leafs played a near perfect road game and beat the Boston Bruins 4-1 to strike first in their opening-round best-of-7 set.
The Leafs started the game well and even after allowing the first goal of the game, an easy tap in by Bruins’ super centre Patrice Bergeron halfway through the first period, there were no signs of panic from the visitors.
Toronto’s Mitch Marner tied the game about seven minutes later and then gave the Leafs a lead they would never relinquish when he beat Tuukka Rask with a filthy deke on a penalty shot early in the second period.
William Nylander scored a biggie late in the second period and John Tavares added an empty netter with 1:19 left to play to seal Toronto’s Game 1 win.
Toronto won the game because their best players — Marner, Tavares, Frederik Anderson, Auston Matthews, and Morgan Rielly — played a great game.
But the supporting cast, including Toronto’s fourth line of Frederik Gauthier, Trevor Moore, and Connor Brown, held up their end of the bargain and then some.
And maybe most importantly, the Leafs held Boston’s big guns — save for Bergeron’s goal — in check all night long.
There were no moments of defensive delirium in Toronto’s end, no panic when Boston created some offensive zone chances, and no quit in the Leafs’ lineup.
If anything, winning Game 1 the way they did will give the Maple Leafs an incredible confidence boost heading into their return engagement in Boston on Saturday night and for the remainder of this series.
Winning the series opener doesn’t guarantee anything, but it’s a very good start for the Leafs.