Jake DeBrusk scored two goals and had an assist to lead the Boston Bruins to a 5-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs on Saturday.
 John Beecher, Brandon Carlo, and Trent Frederic also scored into the empty net for Boston, which faced 35 shots from Jeremy Swayman.

 Both Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy had two assists each for the Bruins, who swept the season series 4-0-0 against the Leafs.

David Kämpf replied for Toronto. Ilya Samsonov stopped 19 shots.

 Leafs winger William Nylander sat out due to an undisclosed injury – it was his first game missed for anything other than illness since November 2016.

 Game 2 of the best-of-seven series returns on Monday at TD Garden.

 Toronto won its first playoff series in 19 years last spring before losing to the Florida Panthers in the second round.  Boston had a historic season in 2022-2023 but fell victim to the Panthers in the opening round of their playoffs ten months ago.

 Toronto and Boston face each other in the first round for the fourth time in the last 12 years.  The Bruins have won all three previous series – in 2013, 2018, and 2019 – in seven games.

 After the visitors recorded the first four shots, Boston took a 1-0 lead at 2:26 of the opening period when Beecher scored his first playoff goal on a 2-on-1 after Joel Edmundson pressured the offensive blue line.

 Samsonov heard a symphony of iron behind him as time went on when Charlie Coyle hit the post before both Charlie McAvoy and Pavel Zacha hit shots off the crossbar.

 Bruising Bruins forward Pat Maroon nearly put Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren on the benches in Boston's TD Garden, which saw Toronto winger Max Domi deliver a check and cut Marchand before the opening faceoff.

The Leafs could not connect on a strong 4-on-3 play to start the second period and Calle Jarnkrok – who returned to the lineup after a long injury absence – was sidelined on a partial breakaway moments later.

 Toronto star Auston Matthews, who finished the regular season with 69 goals, beat Swayman to a loose puck shortly after, but sent his attempt wide of the net.

 Carlo fired a shot at Samsonov as Leafs forward Pontus Holmberg checked his goaltender at 5:47 to extend the lead to 2-0.

 Then the power play that had been under fire in Boston – until Saturday – started to work.

 DeBrusk scored his first of the night through another screen with Matthews in the box for high sticking at 15:02.

 Domi then executed a power play and DeBrusk added his second goal on a rebound from Marchand to make it 4-0 at 17:34.

 The winger nearly completed his first playoff hat trick in the final seconds of the period but shot it off the other post.

 They scored a fourth line goal at 1:39 when Kämpf got one past Swayman.  Leafs defenseman Simon Benoit hit the post shortly thereafter as Toronto finally regrouped.

Coach Sheldon Keefe of the Leafs will not discuss Nylander's injury status with reporters, while his Bruins counterpart Jim Montgomery did not reveal his starting goaltender until Swayman led Boston onto the ice for warmups.

 Montgomery said on Saturday morning when asked about the decision between Swayman or Linus Ullmark: "One of the guys is wearing the pads."