from Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun,

The Maple Leafs, who will start their path to redemption, they hope, while exorcising Beantown ghosts in Game 1 against the Boston Bruins on Thursday night at TD Garden, have been saying they feel good about their chances in the opening round.

That’s fine. There’s no problem with being a confident group hours from the drop of the puck to begin the best-of-seven. That’s how it should be.

The Leafs, however, are going to have to hope they can flip a switch of some sort. This is a club that mostly scuttled through the second half of the regular season, as a four-point lead on the Bruins at the midway point disappeared, with the Leafs eventually finishing seven points behind Boston in the Atlantic Division.

Leafs coach Mike Babcock often uses goal-differential as a measuring stick. The Leafs ended with an honourable goal-differential of plus-35; but Toronto was plus-39 in the first half of the season and minus-four in the second.

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