Nazem Kadri makes the same mistake twice, leaving Leafs forced to scramble

BOSTON — In any other venue, a fight would be the opposite to the correct course of action.

But because Nazem Kadri used the shaft of his stick instead of his fists to answer for Jake DeBrusk’s final action in a series of aggressive tactics in Game 2, he has now made the same potentially ruinous mistake twice. Now both he and the Toronto Maple Leafs stand to suffer the consequences, again.

The combustable centre will most certainly see a lengthy suspension after landing a cross-check to the face of DeBrusk in the final confrontation of an ongoing saga between the two, which served as a subplot throughout the Boston Bruins’ overwhelming and series-knotting 4-1 win Saturday at TD Garden.

First there was a tie-up between the two, initiated and finished by DeBrusk, but which was sanctioned, erroneously, as an equal opportunity scuffle between opponents. Then late in the second, Kadri charged out of the penalty box after serving a minor to collect a puck in his own end before being sliced down at the knee by DeBrusk’s out-stretched shin pad. Kadri writhed in pain, holding his joint, but again, DeBrusk got off scot-free.

Ostensibly feeling angry and definitely mistreated to this point, a thunderous hit on linemate Patrick Marleau threw Kadri over the edge in nearly the same section of ice — and within a game following a similar script — that he walloped an unsuspecting Tommy Wingels during the first round last spring, and for it was suspended three games.

Kadri promised then to never stop sticking up for his teammates. One year later, he followed through on that vow. And with that decision, the Maple Leafs’ prospects of beating the Bruins in a race to four wins was significantly diminished.

After the Leafs came out ahead when coaches Mike Babcock and Bruce Cassidy basically agreed on the line matchups in Game 1, Toronto was flummoxed by the looks organized by the Bruins coach in Game 2. Without Kadri for the foreseeable future, finding an answer for the four-line dominance of the Bruins in the games to come is far more difficult now — despite the Maple Leafs holding home ice in Games 3 and 4.

Slide the ineffective Nylander to the middle to centre Marleau and Connor Brown? After what happened in Game 2, what confidence can the Leafs have in that holding up against the Bruins’ second line with David Krejci and DeBrusk?

Promote Frederik Gauthier? Not a chance. Nic Petan? Hoo boy.

In theory, the Maple Leafs were better prepared to offset an injury or the loss of one of their centres with the offseason addition of John Tavares, who seemed to completely change the dynamic between the two teams after such a positive Game 1.

But with the Bruins once again disarming the Maple Leafs in a manner that few teams can with physicality and the ability to make every detail difficult, it seems that all three top centres — Tavares, Auston Matthews and Kadri — would have to be pulling on the lever to unlock the Leafs’ potential.

His emotions getting to him once more, Kadri could now be gone for the balance of the series. And with him, so could potentially go the chance the Leafs have to finally beat the Bruins.

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