Bruins’ special teams dominance proving decisive as they take 3-1 series lead

Game 4 opened with two big penalty kills from the Bruins in the first period that prevented the Maple Leafs from jumping out to an early lead. It ended with another late in the third with Toronto attempting to come back from two goals down.

In between, Brad Marchand scored a critical power-play goal in the second period to push Boston’s lead to 2-0 – a goal that proved to be the game-winner in the Bruins’ 3-1 victory.

Special teams were decisive in Game 4. They have been decisive all series. The Bruins’ dominance on both the power play and penalty kill has emerged as a major reason they now lead the series 3-1 and have a chance to close out the Leafs Tuesday night at TD Garden.

The Bruins are now 6-for-13 (46.2%) on the power play in the series. The Leafs are 1-for-14 (7.1%). The two teams have just about played to a draw at 5-on-5; the Leafs have had more chances, while the Bruins have a slight 7-6 edge in 5-on-5 goals.

The big difference has been special teams, and that’s not something you might have expected if you watched the Bruins’ power play over the last several weeks of the regular season. Over a 10-game stretch from March 21-April 13, the Bruins went just 2-for-30 (6.7%) on the man advantage.

The big change came before the final two games of the regular season. Jim Montgomery split up his usual top unit and created essentially two co-No. 1 units. David Pastrnak was on one with Kevin Shattenkirk, Pavel Zacha, Danton Heinen and James van Riemsdyk. Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy led the other with Charlie Coyle, Morgan Geekie and Jake DeBrusk.

There’s always a risk in splitting up your three big-money stars (Pastrnak, McAvoy and Marchand), but Montgomery has credited those three for buying in right away, and the result has been that both power-play units have looked much better since.

“The great thing about – people talk about the Bruins’ culture – the players here want to be coached,” Montgomery said Saturday after morning skate. “If they think it’s what’s best for the team, they’re 100 percent behind it. I have yet to face, ‘No, we’re not gonna try that.’

“Chris Kelly, he’s the power-play coach, it was his idea. And I supported it because we were flat. You can see the results. We’re a lot crisper. There’s a lot more pace to our power play. And that’s a credit to the players, because we give them a plan and they’re like, ‘Boom, we’re all-in.’”

The Pastrnak unit scored in the final game of the regular season. The Marchand-McAvoy unit scored the Bruins’ first three power-play goals of the playoffs. The last three have come with Pastrnak, Marchand and McAvoy reunited on one unit. Montgomery has not yet switched back to that loaded-up top unit full-time, but he has started to use it more again, clearly trusting that the good habits they picked up apart will remain in place when they’re together.

On Saturday’s goal, Pastrnak recovered his own blocked shot and quickly moved the puck to Coyle in the bumper. Coyle then snapped it back to McAvoy, who immediately sent it over to Marchand for a one-time finish past Ilya Samsonov. Everything that was missing a month ago was there: a second effort to recover a loose puck, quick and crisp puck movement, and a shot-first mentality from Marchand.

James van Riemsdyk’s role on that goal shouldn’t be ignored, either. He was at the net-front screening Samsonov, and it looked like Samsonov couldn’t accurately track McAvoy’s pass over to Marchand as a result.

Van Riemsdyk also scored the Bruins’ first goal of the game, as he continues to solidify his spot in the lineup after being a healthy scratch for Games 1 and 2. That goal came less than a minute after the Bruins killed off the Leafs’ second of two first-period power plays, and the combination of those two events completely took the air out of Scotiabank Arena.

The Leafs’ special teams and lack of discipline let them down again in the third period. After cutting the lead to 3-1 and turning up the pressure on the Bruins, William Nylander – playing his first game of the series after reportedly dealing with bad migraines that kept him out of Games 1-3 – took a foolish offensive-zone penalty that sapped Toronto’s momentum. It was the Leafs’ sixth offensive-zone penalty of the series. Mitch Marner’s trip before Marchand’s goal earlier in the game also came in the offensive zone.

The Leafs actually did kill that penalty, and then they got a power play of their own on a weak slashing call against Pastrnak. The Bruins PK didn’t even allow them to get set up. They landed zero shots on goal, and by the end of it they were getting booed by their own fans. Game over.

“Joe Sacco does a great job with our plan [on the penalty kill],” Montgomery said. “The players do a great job executing it. I think our sticks and our goaltenders have been really good.”

The Bruins now return home with a chance to eliminate the Leafs Tuesday night. As they painfully learned last year, having a 3-1 series lead does not mean the series is over. But if they can maintain their special teams dominance, it very well could be.

For more Bruins coverage, tune in to Sunday Skate 9-11 a.m. with Andrew Raycroft, Scott McLaughlin and Bridgette Proulx. Listen on WEEI 93.7 FM, WEEI.com , or the Audacy app.