With a historic season of 64 wins and 133 points, the Boston Bruins are the undisputed best team in the National Hockey League. Despite the dominance they have instilled over their opponents, Toronto Maple Leafs legend Wendel Clark is picking his former club to be the team to end Boston’s dream of capturing the Stanley Cup.
On Monday, Clark told SportsNet’s David Amber that Boston is beatable in the playoffs.
“Toronto can do it. They’ve played well enough to do it,” Clark said.
The Leafs have not won a playoff round since 2004, when they defeated the Ottawa Senators in seven games only to lose the conference semifinals, 4-2, to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Toronto missed the playoffs in seven straight seasons between 2005 and 2012 before facing Boston in 2013. With the series tied at three games apiece, the Bruins hosted the Leafs at TD Garden. Down 4-1 in the third period, Boston completed one of the most epic comebacks in NHL history defeating Toronto, 5-4, in overtime.
With one game remaining, Toronto is in second place behind Boston in the Atlantic Division with 109 points. The Maple Leafs will host the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. Tampa came out on top of the hard-fought seven-game series last year.
“They’ve been kicking the can here between Tampa and Boston for the last seven years,” Clark said. “It’s their time as players to take it. Our leadership and I say our and I shouldn’t, but the leadership group in the room for the Leafs has to take it, and it’s their time.”
The Leafs hold the edge over the Lightning in this season’s series, going 2-0-1, but Tampa will be a tough first-round opponent for any team, considering they’ve won two Cups in three years. The Lightning fell in six games to the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Finals last season.
