The Boston Bruins finished second in the Atlantic Division, earning 107 points. The Toronto Maple Leafs earned 100 points to finish third in the Atlantic Division. This was the sixteenth playoff meeting overall, and second consecutive, between these two teams, with Toronto winning eight of the fifteen previous series. They last met in the previous year’s Eastern Conference First Round, which Boston won in seven games. Boston won three of the four games in this year’s regular season series.
The Bruins defeated the Maple Leafs in seven games. Mitch Marner scored twice in Toronto’s game one victory, the final score of which was 4–1.[9] Game two saw controversy in officiating, with Bruins players becoming more physical, to the point where Boston forward Jake DeBrusk collided with Toronto forward Nazem Kadri, who was skating hard out of the penalty box, resulting in a knee-on-knee collision, injuring the Maple Leafs forward.[10] No penalty was called on the play. Kadri would return to the game, but retaliated against DeBrusk, cross-checking the forward in the head, resulting in a major penalty for the Toronto forward.[11] Kadri was suspended for the remainder of the series.[12] The Bruins ended the game 4–1.[13] In game three, Auston Matthews and Andreas Johnsson scored a goal and notched an assist, leading the Maple Leafs to a 3–2 victory.[14] In game four, the Bruins held on for a 6–4 victory, keeping the Maple Leafs from tying in the closing minutes after leading by three goals in the third period.[15] The Maple Leafs scored twice in the third period of game five and held onto a one-goal lead late in the game to give Toronto a 2–1 victory and a 3–2 series lead.[16] In game six, Brad Marchand had two goals and an assist in a 4–2 Bruins victory to push the series to a seventh game.[17] In the seventh game, Boston goalie Tuukka Rask made 32 saves to defeat the Maple Leafs 5–1 and advance to the second round.[18]