Bruins fans aren’t going to complain about a missed call at the end of game 3

The Toronto Maple Leafs took an important game 3 win at home on Monday. It had nothing to do with a missed call on Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk.

The Boston Bruins don’t win game 3’s. Perhaps it’s the travel, or maybe it’s become such a “thing” that it’s in everyone’s head now but the Bruins just don’t win game 3’s. Boston’s last game 3 win came against Detroit in 2014. Since then, they’ve dropped five straight, two of which have been to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Bruins top line was not great on Monday. Every pass was either slightly ahead or slightly behind the intended player, noted Leaf killer David Pastrnak was very quiet and John Tavares did a fantastic job against Patrice Bergeron in the face-off circle. There was one single moment in this game that could have shifted the momentum ever so slightly in the Bruins favor, though and it happened in the game’s final minutes.

Bruins fans don’t whine and complain about calls. They aren’t Toronto fans. They aren’t Toronto media. When a cross check from behind took Jake DeBrusk out of a last-minute scoring chance, Bruins fans were slightly upset, but not upset enough to act like Toronto and start calling for referees heads. Still, given that every small, insignificant penalty was called throughout the game on both sides of the puck, the play in question probably could have garnered a whistle.

Notice Pete is simply asking a question, not complaining. Again, as Bruins fans, we don’t dwell on things like this. We blame our top players for not producing and move on to game 4. If Bruins fans were like Maple Leafs fans, we’d all be in front of the league office with pitch forks (at least virtually, on Twitter).

Leaf fans will say Nikita Zaitsev was simply clearing the front of the net and that this happens in every playoff game. That’s fine, Leafs fans. We agree. We aren’t mad. Keep defending the play even though Bruins fans aren’t complaining about it. Am I sensing a bit of a guilty conscience here?

Here’s another quote from Spittin’ Chiclets producer Mike Grinnell, simply stating a fact about what happened on the play. It’s important to note that he is not complaining! Just transcribing the game.

Thankfully, Bruins fans aren’t going to dwell on this play for two days. In the grand scheme of things, Boston has to be better than they were on Monday in order to win this series. When your top line, who just so happen to be the best line in the NHL, doesn’t do anything, they have nowhere to go but up.

The Boston Bruins will be better in game 4. This series is most likely going to go to seven games, as these two teams do in every playoff match up against each other. Game 4 will be completely different and at some point in this series, David Pastrnak is going to wake up and unleash hell on the Maple Leafs.

Game 4 between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins takes place in Toronto on Wednesday, April 17.