The game meant next to nothing to either team in the standings, but the Bruins Maple Leafs tilt at TD Garden Thursday night sure felt like it mattered.
The Bruins came from behind for a 2-1 overtime victory over Toronto, a team they could very well see in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
David Pastrnak scored the game winner with his 57th goal of the season at 2:30 of overtime just as a Bruins power play had expired.
Who else but HIM? ?? pic.twitter.com/8qyCsowkMo
— p – Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) April 7, 2023
Pastrnak played at less than 100% while battling a stomach virus.
“Pasta was not feeling great tonight,” Montgomery said postgame. “If you noticed, we kept his shifts really short. I can’t give him enough credit for how he willed himself to help us tonight. He was not at 100%, he was battling a stomach virus and I give him full credit for helping us win this hockey game.”
The Breakdown
The two teams played to a scoreless first. Things got a little crispy when AJ Greer took exception to a hit by Sam Lafferty against Matt Grzelcyk. Greer went and Lafferty dropped the gloves but the Bruins forward got the extra instigator penalty and a 10 minute misconduct.
Toronto took the lead on a Lafferty goal 11:34 into the second. The Bruins had a defensive lapse in their own end and fell asleep as Lafferty snuck to the back post behind the defense and tapped home a sharp pass from Zach Aston-Reese past Jeremy Swayman for the 1-0 lead.
The Bruins did suffer a scare when defenseman Charlie McAvoy left midway through the second period with what was later deemed an upper body injury. McAvoy collided with Patrice Bergeron and immediately went down the tunnel to the Bruins dressing room. After the game head coach Jim Montgomery informed reporters that the injury was not considered serious and that McAvoy was pulled for precautionary reasons.
Charlie Coyle cashes in on Carlo's terrific effort at the blue line, tying it up for Boston in the third!#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/zNV8KAp1zs
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) April 7, 2023
The Bruins finally got the equalizer at 11:32 of the third period. Brandon Carlo kept the possession alive in the Toronto zone before sliding a pass over to Charlie Coyle. Coyle patiently held the puck long enough for Oskar Steen to get his body in front of the Toronto net before ripping a wrister past Ilya Samsonov to tie the game at 1.
It stayed that way through regulation. In overtime, the Bruins almost ended the game early as Brad Marchand missed a wide open net on a setup from Patrice Bergeron. Marchand drew a penalty on the play putting Boston on the power play.
While on the power play Bruins forward Pavel Zacha was whistled for two minutes for making a hand pass off a faceoff which is a no-no. After review the call was reversed even though replay showed Zacha’s hand did slightly redirect the puck as did Toronto’s David Kampf.
WHAT ABOUT KAMPF pic.twitter.com/ImjQ5bW7Hy
— Ah yes, the Leafs (@LeafsAllDayy) April 7, 2023
With Zacha out of the box the Bruins resumed their 4-0n-3 power play and just as the it expired, Pastrnak ripped home one time off a feed from Hampus Lindholm to give the Bruins the win.
The Bruins are now 61-12-5 on the season. They need one more victory to tie the all time NHL record of 62.
Boston’s next game is Saturday at TD Garden against the New Jersey Devils, another team the Bruins could potentially face in the playoffs.
3 Stars
David Pastrnak
What more can you say about David Pastrnak? The Bruins star winger continues to deliver. Pastsa now has 57 goals on the season with a realistic shot at reaching 60. He needs 3 more with 4 to play. No Bruin other than Phil Esposito has eclipsed the 60 goal plateau. Espo did it 4 times.
Jeremy Swayman
It’s hard to argue against the fact that Linus Ullmark has been the best goaltender in the NHL this season. But you can make a reasonable case that the second best has been his backup Jeremy Swayman. Swayman turned away 31 of 32 shots for a .969 save percentage on the night including 1.21 goals saved above expected according to moneypuck.com. Coming into the night Swayman was 3rd in the league in GAA (2.24), 4th in Save percentage (.919) and 2nd in saves above expected per 60 (.741) behind, you guessed it, Linus Ullmark.
Charlie Coyle
Number one star goes to Charlie Coyle who factored into both Bruins goals scoring one and assisting on the OT winner. Coyle added 3 shots on goal and finished the night a plus 2 in just over 21 minutes of ice time, most among all Bruins forwards.
Loose Pucks
- The Bruins took the season series from Toronto 3-1 winning the last 3 meetings.
- The one point Toronto earned for the overtime loss locked them into the 2 seed in the Atlantic Division.
- Bruins C David Krejci missed his second straight game with a lower-body ailment
- Oskar Steen got the call playing in his 3rd ever NHL game. Steen skated on the 3rd line with Coyle and Trent Frederic with Todd Bertuzzi bumping up to the second line.
- Taylor Hall remains out though he is close to a return. The Bruins winger has been out of action since February. He was a full participant at Wednesday’s practice and is nearing a return to action.
- Defenseman Derek Forbort is also closr to returning. Forbort is back skating and is hoping to be ready in time for the first round of the playoffs.
