Charlie McAvoy didn't hide it after Marco Sturm's Bruins dropped a 4-2 game to Toronto: Boston's power play gave the Leafs too much life.

That's the part that should sting most in Boston. McAvoy said the Bruins forced plays, turned pucks over, and let the Maple Leafs turn those mistakes straight into offense.

He wasn't dressing it up either. McAvoy flat-out said Toronto had more chances than Boston did during Bruins power plays, and that's the kind of quote that lands hard in a room already searching for answers.

The game itself backed him up. Toronto got a short-handed goal from Matthew Knies in the second period, then added a power-play goal from Max Domi before finishing off the 4-2 win at TD Garden.

Boston did get one back on the man advantage when McAvoy tipped in his 10th goal of the season at 5:08 of the third. But one finish doesn't erase a night where the group looked loose with the puck and late getting into its sets.

That's why McAvoy's frustration matters more than the box score. He wasn't talking about structure breaking down after clean entries. He was talking about self-inflicted damage before the unit could even settle.

For Sturm, that's the real headache. A power play can survive missed shots. It usually can't survive careless decisions at the blue line and forced pucks into traffic.

McAvoy put the Bruins' problem in plain view

McAvoy has 53 points in 58 games, so this isn't coming from a passenger on the blue line. He's one of the Bruins players driving the attack, which gives his postgame read extra weight.

Boston's top producer is still David Pastrnak with 87 points, and the club total sits at 50 power-play goals through 70 games. That should be enough talent for a cleaner night than the one the Bruins delivered against Toronto.

The ugly part is that Boston had just pulled within one when McAvoy scored. That should have been the moment the building turned. Instead, the Leafs stayed in control and closed it out.

Sturm called the overall effort “not good enough” after the loss, and McAvoy's breakdown of the power play fit right inside that bigger message. Boston didn't lose because of one bounce. The Bruins made the game harder on themselves.

That's what makes this worth watching over the next few games. When a top-pair defenseman says the other club created more danger during your power play than you did, the issue isn't bad luck. It's execution.

And in Boston, that usually leads right back to the bench, the personnel, and who keeps getting trusted when the next power play shows up.