A handful of Bruins remain from the last playoff meeting with the Maple Leafs in 2019. But only one is left standing from the first Boston-Toronto matchup 11 years ago.
Brad Marchand had already achieved a hockey player’s dream of hoisting the Stanley Cup when the Bruins met the Leafs in 2013. Little did he know then that Toronto would become a common playoff opponent.
Unlike the Bruins, the Leafs encountered a transitional period in the mid-2010s following their Game 7 collapse at TD Garden. The marquee names changed over the years from Phil Kessel, Nazem Kadri, Dion Phaneuf and James van Riemsdyk to a current core featuring the dynamic Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner, Morgan Rielly and William Nylander.