Pat Maroon makes kind of impact Bruins imagined after trading for him

Pat Maroon makes kind of impact Bruins imagined after trading for him originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

BOSTON — What’s the ideal Pat Maroon performance in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs? Probably something very similar to what we saw from the veteran forward in Game 1 of Boston’s first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs at TD Garden.

Maroon, acquired from the Minnesota Wild on trade deadline day in March, helped his team set the tone right from the start.

The first goal was always going to be important in this kind of game, especially for a Leafs team that didn’t lead the Bruins for a single second in any of the four regular season meetings.

Maroon helped the B’s get on the scoreboard early by picking up an assist on John Beecher’s first career playoff goal. Maroon took two Leafs players out of the play by winning an important puck battle along the boards, helping spring a 2-on-1 rush up ice.

The Bruins kept pouring it on from there, scoring three times in the second period en route to an impressive 5-1 win.

The fourth line of Maroon, Beecher and Jesper Boqvist didn’t just score a goal in the opening period, it also combined for five hits, three of which came from Maroon. He finished with a team-high six hits in 11:28 of ice time. The most notable one resulted in Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren being sent into the Bruins’ bench.

Maroon’s impact isn’t just felt on the ice. His leadership on the bench and in the locker room, as well as his playoff experience, is very valuable to this Bruins team.

Saturday night was the 151st postseason game of Maroon’s career, which is the most of any player on the Bruins roster. He won three consecutive Stanley Cup titles with the Blues (2018-19) and Lightning (2019-20, 2020-21). He understands what kind of hockey works this time of the year and how to help his teammates reach that level.

His line consisted of a rookie making his playoff debut in Beecher, and a guy playing in just his seventh career playoff game in…