Bruins and Maple Leafs aiming to end playoff misery in first-round series

Both the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs have demons to slay in their first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series on Saturday night at Boston's TD Garden.

For the Bruins, it's time for the team that holds the NHL's best regular-season record over the past two seasons to win in the postseason.

Boston set NHL records with 65 wins and 135 points in 2022-23, before losing in the first round to the Florida Panthers in seven games. 

This season, despite their top centers – Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci – skating off to retirement over the summer, the Bruins were again one of the league's best teams, compiling a 47-20-15 record for 109 points – good for second in the Atlantic Division and fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Of course, the Maple Leafs' playoff misery goes back much further than last season.

Now, we won't be so cruel as to take things all the way back to 1967, when Toronto last won a Stanley Cup. (Whoops.)

We need only go back to 2016, the rookie seasons for stars Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander. Defenseman Morgan Rielly was already there. In 2018, the team added captain John Tavares as a free agent.

Despite that bounty of offensive talent and consistently being one of the NHL's top regular-season teams (46-26-10, 102 points this season), the Maple Leafs have won only one playoff round, last season against Tampa Bay. 

Of their five first-round playoff losses, two have come against Bruins (2018 and 2019). Both series went seven games, with Boston winning each Game 7 at TD Garden.

Both teams need far more than a first-round win to get any satisfaction out of these playoffs.

Will captain Brad Marchand, superstar winger David Pastrnak and defenseman Charlie McAvoy lead Boston to a win in the first round? Or will the quintet of Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Rielly and Tavares lead Toronto into the second round for the second consecutive season?

It should be fun to watch and find out.