Throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs we’ll be keeping track of all the action around the league, and bringing you all of the results in one place.
Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
We had just one game on the schedule tonight to keep anyone who wasn’t watching the Sixers occupied, and it was… not precisely a good one or even a thrilling one, but an interesting one, we can say.
For a meeting of two of the more potentially lethal offenses in the league (even with the Leafs being without Auston Matthews again), this ended up being something of a low event game. The Leafs got the better of play by a comfortable margin early, limiting the Bruins to just two shots on goal across the whole of the first period, but somehow never really felt like they were threatening in a major, scary way. The three power plays that we saw (two for the Leafs, one for the Bruins) were a bit messy, not nearly as sharp as we’ve come to expect from these players. Through all that though, the Leafs were the better team for the bulk of the first two periods, but sometimes, when it’s not enough to be good, you have to also be lucky, and that’s what happened to the Leafs here. With just 55 seconds left in the second period, William Nylander put a shot in the direction of the net that might have gone wide, but instead deflected right in off of Charlie McAvoy, and the Leafs had their lead.
The question then became holding on to that lead through the final frame, as the Bruins grew more desperate, and credit to them, they were able to do it. It wasn’t flashy, in fact it was often a bit boring, but the Leafs were able to bear down, blocked a ton of shots, and kept the Bruins contained. They were looking for the empty netter to seal the game late, but it turns out they wouldn’t need it — with under two and a half minutes left in regulation, as the broadcasters were beginning to do their Jeremy Swayman heading to the bench watch, but before he could make that move, Matthew Knies chipped the puck out of the defensive zone to spring Nylander on a breakaway, and he beat Swayman for the second time tonight.
The Bruins managed to score with one tenth of a second left in regulation (a goal that was only counted after a review, after the Leafs had already begun celebrating, and then everyone had to be rounded up again to take the final faceoff), but that goal — ultimately credited to Morgan Geekie — wasn’t enough to pull them back into the game.
Final: 2-0 Maple Leafs
Series: 3-3 Tied
Highlights: NHL
