David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists as the Boston Bruins thumped the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-1 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series Thursday.
Brad Marchand and David Krejci, with a goal and an assist each, and David Backes and Sean Kuraly rounded out the scoring for Boston, which got 26 saves from Tuukka Rask. Torey Krug added two assists.
Zach Hyman replied for Toronto, while Frederik Andersen made 35 stops.
Game 2 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal goes Saturday night at TD Garden before the series switches to Air Canada Centre on Monday.
The Leafs talked at length ahead of Thursday's game about how containing the line of Marchand, Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron _ a trio that combined for 99 goals in the regular season and is stellar in all three zones _ would be crucial.
They have plenty of work to do in that department after a six-point performance in Game 1 that also saw Marchand, Bergeron and their teammates take the body to the young Leafs at almost every opportunity.
Toronto's Nazem Kadri took exception to an elbow to Mitch Marner from Tommy Wingels in the third period and replied by taking a run at the Bruins forward. He earned a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct.
Boston limited space in the neutral zone at even strength as Auston Matthews, Marner and William Nylander struggled to find room to operate.
Toronto's power play, which had been operating at 32.2 per cent since the end of January, will also be a point of emphasis after going 0 for 3, while the penalty kill allowed Boston to score three times with the man advantage.
Backes snapped a 1-1 tie on the power play at 15:43 of the second when he chipped a loose puck up and over Andersen at the lip of the crease after Leafs defenceman Ron Hainsey could only get a piece of a pass in front.
The Bruins' second goal with the man advantage came after the Leafs wasted two power-play chances of their own earlier in the period.
Boston stretched its lead to two with 38 seconds left in the period when Pastrnak took a feed from Marchand out of the corner and zipped a shot past Andersen's glove.
Marchand was at his agitating best earlier in the period when he nudged Leafs defenceman Nikita Zaitsev into Andersen to draw a crowd after getting caught on television replays appearing to lick the face of Leafs forward Leo Komarov in the first.
Toronto killed off two penalties to start the third, but Kuraly made it 4-1 when he batted the puck out of mid-air after Andersen robbed Pastrnak.
Wingels elbowed Marner in the corner midway through the third, leading to Kadri's five-minute major and game misconduct.
Krejci made it 5-1 from a horrible angle on the power play at 11:29.