Ever since it was determined that the Boston Bruins will host the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 1 of the 2024 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, fans have been waiting to see when that game will be.
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Well, on Wednesday night, the NHL answered that burning question. The Bruins and Maple Leafs will kick off their 17th meeting in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with Game 1 at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday night at TD Garden.
All eight Eastern Conference teams will begin their First Round series this upcoming weekend. Which teams will be playing when? We have you covered. #StanleyCup
More details: https://t.co/JriEhmfKwR pic.twitter.com/HkhaIYrjfx
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) April 17, 2024
The game will be broadcast in the United States on TBS, TRUTV, and MAX, and in Canada on Sportsnet, CBC, and TVA Sports.
The Bruins owned their longtime Orginal 6 rivals this season, going 4-0-0 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bruins won 3-2 in a shootout on Nov. 2 at TD Garden, 4-3 in overtime at Toronto on Dec. 2, and then won the final two games against the Maple Leafs 4-1 on March 4 in Toronto and March 7 in Boston. The Bruins did not trail the Maple Leafs in any of those four games this past regular season.
The two teams have split their 16 Stanley Cup Playoffs series that they have played each other in, but the Bruins will enter this latest playoff tilt against Toronto having won the last six series between the two rivals. The Bruins swept the Maple Leafs in the 1969 quarterfinals, won the 1972 quarterfinals in five games, swept the 1974 quarterfinals, and have won the last three series (2013, 2018, 2019) in seven games.
Those last three series between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs were epic battles that renewed the rivalry. In 2013, the Bruins blew a 3-1 series lead and were down 4-1 with just over ten minutes left in regulation in Game 7 but mounted a historic comeback. The Bruins got three third period goals, including the game-tying goal from Patrice Bergeron with 51 seconds left in regulation, before Bergeron’s historic overtime winner 6:05 into the extra frame.
That opening-round series sent the Bruins on a run to the 2013 Stanley Cup, where they lost in six games to the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Bruins’s seven-game series win over the Leafs in 2018 was followed by a second-round series loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, but after beating the Maple Leafs in 2019, the Boston Bruins once again advanced to the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the St. Louis Blues in seven games.
