PITTSBURGH — The Maple Leafs still hold a special place in Claude Julien’s heart.
In a backhanded sort of way, mind you.
Three weeks have passed since the Boston Bruins staged a stunning comeback in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal to eliminate the Leafs, but for the Bruins coach, the manner in which the Bruins disposed of Toronto resonates.
“The way we won Game 7, there’s no doubt in my mind there was a real big turning point,” Julien said on Monday. “It does play a big role.
“At the same time I think the adversity you go through during the season helps you overcome some tough times, and I think that’s what helped us get through Game 7, is that we’ve been there before. We scored a couple of goals late in games, and we knew we could.”
Not that a reminder necessarily is in order, but here it is anyway: On May 13, the Leafs held a 4-1 lead in the third period at the TD Garden and less than 11 minutes were left in regulation when Nathan Horton scored. That goal was followed by one from Milan Lucic at 18:38, and the tying goal at 19:09 on a floater from the point by Patrice Bergeron.
Bergeron won the game at 6:05 of overtime when he slipped the puck past a sprawling James Reimer, this after Jake Gardiner accidentally put the puck on Bergeron’s tape.
The Leafs had won Games 5 and 6 after the Bruins took a 3-1 series lead.
“I don’t know if I want to use the word momentum more than the confidence that it brings to your hockey club, and we’re seeing the same thing with Chicago, what they overcame against Detroit and the way they’ve played the first two games against Los Angeles (in the Western Conference final),” Julien said. “It does a lot for your team.
“It makes you feel good. It makes you excited, gives you the energy that you need to continue.”
The Bruins ousted the New York Rangers in five games in the conference semifinal and hold a 1-0 lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the conference final.
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PITTSBURGH — The Maple Leafs are off to London.
Well, only the rookies, and just down the 401 to Budweiser Gardens.
The Leafs announced Monday their rookies will participate in a tournament with freshmen representing the Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks Sept. 5-8.
“The Maple Leafs are thrilled to return to a great hockey city like London for the annual rookie tournament,” Leafs general manager David Nonis said in a statement. “It’s a great opportunity for us to evaluate the players in our system against their peers from other NHL clubs.”
The annual tournament, which has been held in different locations, was cancelled last year because of the lockout.
Rosters will be announced at a later date.
Tickets go on sale on Saturday at 10 a.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Budweiser Gardens box office, by phone at 1-866-455-2849 or online at www.budweisergardens.com.
The schedule for the tournament follows. All games are at Budweiser Gardens, home of the Ontario Hockey League champion London Knights:
Thurs., Sept. 5
Pittsburgh vs. Ottawa, 2 p.m.
Chicago vs. Toronto, 7 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 6
Practices TBA
Sat., Sept. 7
Ottawa vs. Chicago, 2 p.m.
Toronto vs. Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Sun., Sept. 8
Chicago vs. Pittsburgh, 2 p.m.
Toronto vs. Ottawa, 7 p.m.

Tyler Bozak won’t require surgery on his injured biceps.
The Maple Leafs centre suffered the injury on a faceoff late in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal against the Boston Bruins, Leafs vice-president of hockey operations Dave Poulin told the Toronto Sun on Wednesday afternoon.
“(The coaching staff) thought potentially he could go in Game 6, but they did not know right until game time (that Bozak could not),” Poulin said. “The fact that he tried was pretty valiant. He was willing to take it to the nth degree.”
Bozak participated in the pre-game warmup on Sunday but did not play that night. He also sat out the deciding Game 7 on Monday. The Leafs held a 4-1 lead in the third period in Boston but lost 5-4 in overtime on a goal by Patrice Bergeron, ending thier season.
Bozak’s spot on the roster was taken by Joe Colborne.
The injury was not related to the one that Bozak suffered against the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 24, causing him to miss the final two games of the regular season, Poulin said.
Bozak faces a recovery period of up to four weeks.
Bozak is headed for unrestricted free agency in July. The Leafs and his agent, Wade Arnott, agreed to put contract talks on the shelf until the season ended.
It’s expected that talks could re-open soon.
The Leafs will gather at the Air Canada Centre on Thursday to clean out their lockers before dispersing for the summer.

A biceps injury kept centre Tyler Bozak out of the Maple Leafs’ lineup for the final two playoff games.
Leafs assistant general manager Claude Loiselle confirmed the injury during an interview on The Fan 590 late on Tuesday afternoon.
Bozak, headed for unrestricted free agency this summer, originally suffered an injury during the Leafs’ game in Tampa Bay on April 24 and missed the final two games of the regular season.
Whether the 27-year-old has played in his last game as a Leaf remains to be seen. Many think the Leafs still don’t have a true No. 1 centre, and though Bozak is capable of valuable minutes, he doesn’t necessarily have top-line talent.
Bozak’s absence in the Eastern Conference quarterfinal against the Boston Bruins caused coach Randy Carlyle to make some line changes, with Joe Colborne coming into the lineup. Colborne is a raw prospect, to the point that he lost all nine faceoffs he took in the decisive Game 7.

There will be a roster wrinkle for the Boston Bruins on Sunday night when they try to send the Maple Leafs packing for the summer.
Bruins defenceman Andrew Ference did not make the trip to Toronto for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal. Ference, who missed Game 2 because of a suspension, will be replaced by one of Dougie Hamilton or Wade Redden.
“Randy (Carlyle) doesn’t talk about his roster and I don’t talk about mine,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said on Sunday morning.
Ference is day to day with an undisclosed injury or illness. Redden, who missed Game 5 and was replaced by Matt Bartkowski, participated in the morning skate.
It doesn’t matter who is in the Bruins lineup, Carlyle has a sound idea of what he thinks the visitors will bring when the puck drops just after 7:30 p.m.
“I expect a desperate hockey club,” Carlyle said. “It was very evident in Game 3 here. They came out and established a fore-checking game, pack mentality and were hard on the puck.”
If the Leafs extend their season and force a winner-take-all Game 7 in Boston on Monday night, they’re going to have to do something they have not done yet: Win at home. The Leafs’ two wins in the best-of-seven series, which the Bruins lead 3-2, have come in Beantown.
“The early stages of my tenure here, I found our team was paralyzed at home,” Carlyle said.
“We did not play anywhere near as confident, we weren’t relaxed, we weren’t a lot of things. But I think that has changed dramatically.
“We wanted a new identity, we wanted a different type of hockey club, and we wanted to make sure this rink was going to be a different type of building to come in and get points out of. To some degree you could say we have accomplished a little bit, but there is still a long way to go.”