A couple of things have to happen in Game 5 to give the Leafs the best chance to win. One, Auston Matthews, as long as he is healthy enough to play, has to be on a line with Marner from the first shift. Two, William Nylander can’t be stuck on a line with Pontus Holmberg as his centre. 

The things that Matthews and Marner do together aren’t matched by many duos in the National Hockey League. We get it: Keefe has liked Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi on a line with Matthews. The Leafs, though, have seven goals in the series. 

Crucial for the Leafs will be getting Matthews, who left the game after the second period, to better health. An illness bothered him for much of the week, and in the first two periods on Saturday, he recorded just one shot on goal in 14 minutes 16 seconds of ice time.

having Holmberg as his centre is akin to wasting the winger’s talent. Put him with Matthews and Marner, or with Tavares, or even with Domi at centre at this point. 

How does Keefe come up with a plan to get the Leafs to generate more offence, and execute, in the next few days before Game 5?

“This game offensively would be our worst,” Keefe said. “We have to get Willie going and involved in the series. We have to hope that these couple of days are going to help Auston to come back and be himself. 

“As a group, we’ve got to find ways to break free and then in the meantime, if we’re not going to be able to score at a high rate, we’ve got to minimize the types of mistakes that we’ve made that have ended up in our net.”

TAKEAWAYS AND OTHER THINGS

The Bruins’ Brad Marchand, Jake DeBrusk, David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy have combined for 21 points in the series. The Leafs as a whole have 20 points … With two points, Marner has been a major disappointment and has not provided post-season leadership. “Always can improve,” Marner said of his play in the series. “We’re losing 3-1 in the series, so want to be better, want to help this team win.” … The Leafs were second in the NHL during the regular season in averaging 3.63 goals a game, and yet have been held to seven in four games by the Bruins. How surprised is Boston coach Jim Montgomery by his team’s ability to shut the Leafs down through four games? “Very surprised,” Montgomery said. “It’s a great effort by both our goalies and our commitment to being above the puck and playing the right way. That being said, we didn’t think if we allowed Toronto to score that it would be a very good series for us.” … Joseph Woll entered the game to start the third period and made five saves in relief of Ilya Samsonov. Don’t know, though, that Keefe will turn to Woll to start Game 5 with the season on the line. Samsonov didn’t have much of a chance on any of the Bruins’ goals. Keefe’s explanation: “We’re just trying to change things, get Joe involved. That’s really it. You’re trying to change the momentum. As for what we’ll do going forward, we’ve got some time here to talk it through.” … The boos had started to get loud as the second period ended, but the Leafs’ game operations team was quick to respond and cranked the music, drowning out the fans’ frustrations as the Leafs departed the ice. We imagine the players knew exactly how their supporters were feeling, never mind the pulse-pounding sounds reverberating through the arena … The Leafs looked good on their first penalty kill when Marner was called for tripping at 7:48 of the first period. Matthew Knies got his stick on an attempt, David Kampf had a couple of clears and Samsonov made two saves. And on their second kill, Jake McCabe made a big block not long before McAvoy set up Marchand for a one-timer and a 2-0 Bruins lead … Giving up a goal in the final minute of a period can be deadly. TJ Brodie, playing in his first game of the series, couldn’t stop a bouncing puck and Marchand tipped it past him, creating a short 2-on-0 with Pastrnak. The latter popped the puck past Samsonov at 19:18 of the second to put Boston up 3-0 … The basic principle of playing on the fourth line: Don’t get scored on. In that regard, the Leafs failed in the first period when Ryan Reaves’ clearing attempt was deflected by Bruins defenceman Mason Lohrei and the puck bounced to former Leaf James van Riemsdyk, who moved to his backhand to score … The highlight of the night for the Leafs happened before the game, when there was a moment of reflection/tribute for the late Bob Cole, featuring some of his best calls of Leafs goals. Though the tribute could have been inspiring, it didn’t light a spark under the Leafs … Nice touch by Keefe to start his post-game availability by welcoming back Mike Zeisberger and offering the veteran writer the first question. Our former hockey scribe, now doing good things for the NHL’s website, was back for his first game after spending the past four months beating health issues. It’s great to see Zize in the rink again.