One Maple Leaf absent from practice and an update on line up for Game 2.

The Toronto Maple Leafs walked away from Game 1 of their first round series against the Boston Bruins in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs with what has to be considered a huge win for that team and for that organization. The last few times these two teams clashed in the postseason the Bruins walked away with some very big victories and as a result all of the pressure headed into this series seemed to be on the Maple Leafs.

The Leafs answered the bell in Game 1 to be sure but, as every hockey fan knows, a single victory in a 7 game series does not mean a whole lot at the end of the day. You have to win 4 such games in order to advance to the next round of the playoffs and after stumbling in Game 1 the Boston Bruins were already making some changes to their line up this morning. In an earlier report today we touched on the fact that the Bruins looked like they would have both forward Jake DeBrusk and veteran David Backes in the line up this evening, a move that would necessitate one of the Bruins that appeared in Game 1 to be placed on the sidelines. We still do not know who that player will be and we likely will not be getting an answer on that front until right before the puck drops for Game 2 later tonight. 

As for the Maple Leafs it seems like they intend to stick to their winning formula moving forward, or at least I should say they are at least sticking to it for Game 2 of this series. According to a report from Toronto Maple Leafs beat reporter Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun, the Maple Leafs will enter Game 2 with the identical line up that they had out there for their big win in Game 1 of this playoff series. That should come as little surprise I suppose although there was one interesting tidbit from the Maple Leafs morning skate today.

According to Koshan, goaltender Michael Hutchinson was absent from the Leafs morning skate this morning which would indicate that it will be Garret Sparks in the backup role on the bench once again. 

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