Toronto is considered one of the most hockey mad cities in the world, which is one reason why it is a bit sad that it has not hosted a playoff game for the Maple Leafs in nearly a decade, but all that will change on Monday night, as the Boston Bruins come to town for Game 3.
The Maple Leafs tied up the series at 1-1 after a 4-1 loss against the Bruins in Game 1 and Toronto was able to rebound from that loss for a 4-2 victory against the Bruins at TD Garden on Saturday. The Air Canada Centre is ready to host the teams and while Toronto has been bad for a number of years, the team played well enough to get the number five seed in the playoffs this season.
It has been a long time coming for Maple Leafs fans, as the franchise has not had a postseason game since the 2004 season when the team lost in the Eastern semis to the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-2. There are a number of connections in the game, as Phil Kessel was once a Bruin before being traded for draft picks, one of which became Tyler Seguin, who is from Ontario and grew up as a fan of the team.
Joffrey Lupul has been solid for the Leafs and he is leading the team in goals and points for the playoffs through the two games. The team will be looking to take the advantage with two games in Toronto and after winning one in Boston they have a good shot of taking away the Bruins home ice and keeping it on their side.
Back when the Maple Leafs were last in the playoffs, the team was down 2-0 against the Flyers and eventually forced overtime, but they lost 3-2 after the score by Jeremy Roenick.
"There's going to be a lot of, I guess, media coverage and a lot of things said and a lot of things done," Toronto coach Randy Carlyle said, "but we have to stay focused on what we can control and we have to prepare ourselves to play a better Boston hockey club."
