David Pastrnak doesn’t mince words in his review of the Boston Bruins’ 6-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews

The Boston Bruins fell 6-4 to Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night in a high-profile game at Scotiabank Arena. Auston Matthews returned after missing six games with an upper-body injury and made an immediate impact, scoring a goal and adding two assists.

Bruins forward David Pastrnak didn’t mince words when reviewing his team’s performance, criticizing the defense for allowing too many “easy goals.”

“Too easy. Too many easy goals we gave and (they) gave us six goals on this. I know two of them were empty. All in all, I think – too easy, the goals they scored – I don’t think we did much (them ) to prevent,” said Pastrnak.

The Maple Leafs took a 2-0 lead in the first two periods on goals by Jake McCabe and rookie Matthew Knies. The Bruins responded with goals from Morgan Geekie and Trent Frederic to tie the game at 2-2 in the second.

Toronto regained the lead early in the third on Knies’ second of the night, but Pastrnak tied the score 3-3 inside 34 seconds. Then Knies completed a hat trick at 5:28, one-timed by Matthews.

At 17:55, Mitch Marner gives his team a 5-3 lead with an empty net goal. The Boston Bruins cut the deficit to 5-4 on Pastrnak’s second goal, but an empty netter by Matthews sealed the victory for the Maple Leafs.

“We got four, but we were chasing the whole game. So, we’re not sure if that’s good. We talked about keeping the puck out of the net. And unfortunately, it was hard for us to clear the puck. They had good forechecks. And we didn’t.

Pastrnak marked defensive breakdowns and the inability to get the puck out of the defensive zone as the main problems of the evening.

Joseph Woll has 27 saves while Jeremy Swayman stopped 23 shots for the Boston Bruins.

HC Joe Sacco on the Boston Bruins’ 6-4 loss to the Maple Leafs

Bruins head coach Joe Sacco was critical of his team’s performance after their 6-4 loss to the Maple Leafs. Sacco emphasized that the Bruins did not play hard enough, especially in the areas below the faceoff points, and allowed Toronto to control the game in Boston’s defensive zone.

“It’s difficult to play catch-up hockey in this League, but in the third the ratio is 2-2, and we have two mistakes that they capitalize on, two mistakes that they capitalize on. We’re one beat and the other one we’re losing slot coverage,” Sacco said.

Sacco also credited the Maple Leafs for playing hard and capitalizing on Boston’s mistakes. The Boston Bruins next face the New York Islanders on Sunday.