Who wins Game 7 of Bruins-Maple Leafs? Key players to watch, final score predictions
It all comes down to this. After it looked like the Boston Bruins were going to breeze right by an imploding Toronto Maple Leafs team, the blue and white stormed back to take Games 5 and 6.
Now it’s 3-3 in the series, and a trip to the second round is on the line between the rivals as they face off in Game 7 Saturday night in Boston (8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN+).
Which players will be most critical to their team’s success? And who wins the game?
Who is the one key player you’ll be watching for the Bruins?
Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter: Charlie Coyle. Coyle has two assists and zero goals through six games against the Maple Leafs. It’s a bit jarring, considering he scored a career-high 25 goals and 60 points this regular season (both third most on the team). That allowed the Bruins to get by without more established top-six options down the middle.
This also goes back to Jim Montgomery saying he needs more from his stars. Although he was talking mostly about Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, the regular-season numbers Coyle put up mean there are expectations for him as well.
Kristen Shilton, NHL reporter: Jeremy Swayman. That’s assuming Jim Montgomery doesn’t go completely off the deep end and start Linus Ullmark in Game 7. Swayman has been the Bruins’ backbone in this series and their most consistent performer — with the .947 save percentage and 1.60 goals-against average to prove it.
But while Swayman has been excellent in these playoffs — and was great in Boston’s last postseason go-around, too — he has never won an elimination game. That will obviously have to change in Game 7 for the Bruins to advance. Montgomery said earlier in the first round he thought Swayman was in the Leafs’ heads a little bit. Well, now it’s time for Swayman to show that script hasn’t flipped to where Toronto is messing with his mojo.
Greg Wyshynski, NHL reporter: Brad Marchand. These are the moments that define a player’s captaincy. I spoke with Marchand before the season, and no one was more disgusted with Boston squandering its series against the Florida Panthers than he was, feeling that the Bruins cost two of their players — Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci — the “fairy-tale ending” that they deserved.
Marchand didn’t have a point in Game 7 against the Panthers last season. He hasn’t hit the score sheet in the past two losses to the Maple Leafs. He didn’t have a shot on goal in Game 5, and he has six penalty minutes combined in those two losses. He’s the heartbeat of the Bruins. If he’s not a difference-maker in Game 7, it’s another “fairy tale” with “THE END” printed on page one for Boston.
Who is the one key player you’ll be watching for the Maple Leafs?
Clark: Max Domi. What Domi accomplished in the playoffs last year by helping the Stars get to the Western Conference finals showed he can be a key player for a playoff contender. He leads the Maple Leafs in points, and he has looked like one of their better players to this stage.
Three of his four points have been assists, which means he’s able to facilitate play for others. But it also goes back to what he did last year. The 13 points Domi had in 19 playoff games with the Stars is what made him such an attractive option in free agency. Now it’s about seeing whether Domi can continue building his postseason résumé with the sort of performance that can get the Leafs into the second round.
Shilton: Mitch Marner. There’s something about Auston Matthews not being in the Leafs’ lineup — it just brings out the best in Marner. He was sensational for Toronto in Games 5 and 6, revealing a confidence and determination at both ends of the ice that was lacking in his previous playoff performances.
Where Marner could have more of an impact is on the scoresheet. He has just one goal and two assists through the six games, and while Toronto has benefitted in its comeback from contributions outside the core, it would be a boost for both Marner and the Leafs to see him capitalize on those golden opportunities (like when his shot went off the post in Game 6). It feels like Marner is still on the cusp of a breakthrough, production-wise. There’s no time like Game 7 to make that a reality.
Wyshynski: Joseph Woll. Stanley Cup playoff history includes a number of rookie goalies popping off and becoming postseason heroes. I’m not saying Joseph Woll is going to be Ken Dryden or Patrick Roy or even Cam Ward, but he has given the Leafs everything they need in goal right now: a .964 save percentage and an 0.86 goals-against average in his two games since replacing Ilya Samsonov.
The huge goaltending advantage Boston had with Jeremy Swayman has been mitigated. We’ve got some proof of concept now with Woll, as he played well in last season’s playoffs, too. The Leaf-iest thing would be for Woll to melt down and give up three goals in the first 10 minutes in Game 7 on the road. But at this point, I’d be surprised if the rookie goalie costs them the game — and not surprised at all if he’s the reason they win it.
The final score will be _____.
Clark: 4-3 Bruins in OT. How much did the Bruins learn from last year’s first-round exit, and can they avoid a similar fate Saturday? Those are the two major questions they’ll be seeking to answer. One way to answer those questions is by establishing the “big period” like they did in Game 1, when they scored three goals in the second period and again in Game 3 when they scored three in the final frame.
Maybe that happens. Or maybe it’s too late given how they’ve looked in Games 5 and 6. But if the Bruins want to win this game, it’s about trying to find that one period in which they can pump in multiple goals, with those goals coming from different parts of their lineup.
Shilton: 2-1 Leafs. Scoring has been at a premium lately in this series, and given how well Swayman and Woll are playing, Game 7 doesn’t project as a barn burner. Boston was in control, but now the Bruins look lost at times.
Toronto has played with Game 7 levels of urgency twice already, and Boston will have to match that on the fly come Saturday — while grappling with how they went from dominant to docile so quickly. The Bruins have had their chances to close the Leafs out, but Toronto has snatched all the momentum; plus, the Leafs have been a terrific road team all season (and in this series).
Wyshynski: 3-1 Leafs. Bruins coach Jim Montgomery went from calling their first-round disaster last season a teachable moment after Game 5 to declaring that Boston is not living in the past after Game 6. Sorry, but the déjà vu is simply too strong here: 3-1 lead, overtime loss at home, loss on the road, back to Boston for Game 7.
The Bruins look slow. They look ineffective. The Leafs are playing the kind of simple, straight-ahead game the Bruins used to be known for playing: dominating zone time and the face-off circle. I’m not sure Boston can flip the script. The Bruins have lost six straight games with a chance to clinch a playoff series, tied for the seventh-longest streak by any team in NHL history.
We all assumed the pressure of a Game 7 in Boston would crush the Maple Leafs. At this point, is there any question that the Bruins are the ones with the flop sweat?
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Ryan S. Clark
Many of Mikko Rantanen’s greatest moments have come in a Colorado Avalanche sweater. It’s just that the most defining moment of his career came at their expense.
It wasn’t enough that the Dallas Stars were trailing by two goals. It was also the fact that Rantanen scored a hat trick in a string of four unanswered goals that saw his current team, the host Stars, eliminate his old team, the Avalanche, in a 4-2 win Saturday in Game 7 of the Western Conference quarterfinals at the American Airlines Center.
“Obviously, the feeling was incredible to win a series,” Rantanen said in his postgame media availability. “This series was not exactly what I expected. I expected a seven-game series, even before Game 1. The ups and downs in the series. … Belief was there with the group the whole time. Obviously, I was able to make a pay to get the first one and the crowd started to roll.”
The Stars, attempting to reach the conference finals a third straight time, will advance to the semifinal round in which they will await the winner of series featuring the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets. That encounter will be decided Sunday in Game 7 in Winnipeg.
Soon, the Stars’ collective focus will shift to another Central Division foe. But for now? The attention before, during, and after the game, was on Rantanen.
Part of what made the Avalanche-Stars series arguably the most intriguing first-round series in either conference was the fact it placed two 100-point teams that are in championship window against each other. But, it also came with several subplots with the notable being the team that traded quite a bit to land Rantanen — with the hope he could win them a Stanley Cup now — needed him to defeat the team that he won a championship with back in 2022.
With one assist through the first four games, there was a discussion about if the Stars could manage to win with a sputtering Rantanen on top of the fact they were already without two of their best players in defenseman Miro Heiskanen and forward Jason Robertson.
Rantanen responded with a three-point performance in Game 5, and a four-point performance in Game 6 only to then have a hand in each goal on Saturday. His first goal came on the power-play with 12:12 remaining in the third period when he found enough space to fire a wrist shot that beat MacKenzie Blackwood.
Then came the game-tying goal and the significance it carried. The Stars went on the power play went Avalanche forward Jack Drury was called for holding. Drury part of the trade package the Carolina Hurricanes used to get Rantanen in late January before they would trade him to the Stars.
Drury’s penalty opened the door for Rantanen to score a game-tying goal that might be one of, if not, his signature salvo. Rantanen skated into the Avalanche zone in a 1-on-3 before he split two players before going around the net for a wrap-around goal that went off the skate of Samuel Girard with 6:14 left.
Three minutes later, the Stars received another power-play opportunity that saw Rantanen along with another former Avalanche forward in Matt Duchene work together to find Wyatt Johnston for the game-winning goal.
In the final minute, the Avalanche pulled Blackwood in the attempt to grab a late goal and force over time. Instead? Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger withstood a barrage that officially ended when Stars forward Tyler Seguin got the puck out of the zone only for Rantanen to skate in on an open net for the hat trick with three seconds left.
“I couldn’t care less who scored for them, I really couldn’t,” Avalanche captain and left winger Gabriel Landeskog said when asked about what it was like to watch Rantanen score a hat trick. “Mikko is one of my best friends and I love him, but I couldn’t care if he scored or if somebody else scored.”
For eight full seasons, Rantanen was part of a homegrown movement that saw the Avalanche go from finishing with what was then the worst record in the salary cap era back in 2016-17 to become a perennial favorite to win the Stanley Cup, which did they did in 2023, while also becoming a model for the need to build through the draft.
Building through stars such as Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, Landeskog and Rantanen allowed the Avalanche to become a success. As did the moves they made to get other key figures like Valeri Nichushkin and Devon Toews.
Like all teams in a championship window, the Avs were facing the prospect of possibly making a difficult decision. They had yet to agree to a new contract with Rantanen, who was a pending unrestricted free agent. Then, came the blockbuster trade that few throughout the league saw coming.
The Avalanche traded Rantanen in a three-team trade that saw them get Martin Necas and Drury along with two draft picks. Rantanen’s time with the Carolina Hurricanes was limited to just two goals and six points in 13 games.
Despite the fact the Hurricanes are also among that cadre of championship contenders, Rantanen struggled to find cohesion in Raleigh. Rather than run the risk of watching leave for nothing in free agency, the Hurricanes put out feelers to a few teams with the Stars being one of them.
A long-time admirer of Rantanen, the Stars packaged two first-round picks, three second-round picks and former prized prospect Logan Stankoven to get Rantanen. They then signed him to an eight-year contract worth $12 million annually.
“It’s two things: It’s where our team’s at, and it’s Mikko Rantanen,” Stars general manager Jim Nill told ESPN back in March.
Rantanen finished the regular season with five goals and 18 points in 20 games prior to the showdown with his former team.
Not only did Rantanen’s hat trick condemn his former team to their second first-round exit since winning the Stanley Cup, but it continued a theme of former Avalanche eliminating their previous employers.
The Avalanche and Stars faced each other in last season’s Western Conference semifinal that saw Duchene, a former Colorado first-round pick, score the game-winning goal.
A year later, it was another former Avalanche first-round pick who delivered the devastating blow.
“It seems pretty fitting,” Johnston said about Rantanen. “Obviously, we want to win for each other and I think that goes a little extra when it’s a guy like that who is such a big part of our team and was there for a long time and everyone knows the trade that went on. It’s so awesome. We’re so happy as a group for him.”
As if Rantanen scoring a hat trick in a four-goal comeback wasn’t enough, there’s also the fact that this is now the ninth consecutive Game 7 that Stars coach Peter DeBoer has won his career.
DeBoer’s nine wins in Game 7s broke a tie with Darryl Sutter for the most in NHL history. It was also DeBoer’s third game 7 wins with the Stars.
“I felt something was going to happen,” DeBoer said. “But I could not have predicted that.”
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