Buds Breakdown Weekly: The First Four Games Have Been a Rollercoaster

Plus, Nylander's first game of the playoffs, the team is getting dirty as series gets tight

Welcome to another edition of the Buds Breakdown Weekly…

Buds Breakdown Weekly (The Hockey Writers)

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In this week’s edition, the Toronto Maple Leafs complete Games 2, 3, and 4 in the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Also, the club finds more success in their game after an embarrassing Game 1 start, Nylander’s return to the lineup, and the team gets physical to set the tone in the series.

Let’s get into it…

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Leafs Improve After Game 1 Loss

It should be no surprise that the Leafs returned to win the game against the Boston Bruins. Last season, they beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-2 after losing the first game 7-3. It was all a matter of keeping up their great pace throughout the game and not giving up on their depth. Max Domi and Tyler Bertuzzi showed some great relentlessness, and that's just a taste of what the Leafs have in terms of attacking.

In Game 1, all the focus was on their bottom lines, and that’s not how they should've gone into the game. As much as Auston Matthews and John Tavares tried their best to take more initiative, they could not get it done. The power play was also not there and could not score anything despite having a better power play unit than the Bruins.’ Playing without William Nylander could’ve been to blame, but Game 2 proved that wrong.