Bruins rally to eliminate Maple Leafs

LEAFS LED 4-3 AFTER TWO PERIODS

Jake DeBrusk scored his second goal of the game on a great individual effort in the third period as the Boston Bruins stormed back to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-4 on Wednesday in Game 7 to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Boston, which led the series 3-1 before Toronto mounted a comeback to push the series to its limit, will take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference semifinal.

Game 1 of that series goes Saturday in Tampa, Fla.

Patrice Bergeron, with a goal and two assists, David Pastrnak, Danton Heinen, Torey Krug and Brad Marchand also scored for the Bruins. David Krejci had three assists, while Kevan Miller added two.

Tuukka Rask made 20 stops.

Patrick Marleau, with two, Travis Dermott and Kasperi Kapanen replied for the Leafs. Frederik Andersen stopped 29 of 35 shots, with Marchand’s goal going into an empty net. William Nylander added two assists.

Leafs coach Mike Babcock said he was “disappointed” by the final result.

“We were set up perfect going into the third. I thought we really played well the last 10 minutes of the second. We used all our people. We were fresh. I thought we were the fresher team, and we were in the driver’s seat,” said Babcock.

Toronto forced Game 7 after falling behind 3-1 in the series with a 4-3 victory in Game 5 where Andersen stood on his head with a 42save performance at TD Garden before picking up a 31 win on home ice in Game 6.

The visitors led 4-3 through two periods only to see Boston tie it 70 seconds into the third when Krug blasted a shot from the point past Andersen with the teams playing 4 on 4.

“We won the draw but they win the 50-50, it gets out to the point. I don’t know, I haven’t see the replay. I don’t know it if was tipped, but it still ended up in the net,” said Babcock.

“We were still in a good spot there. The next one hurt us. We didn’t respond. It was like devastation instead of just playing and executing in the third period.”

The Bruins then pulled in front at 5:25 with both teams again playing down a man when DeBrusk cut around Jake Gardiner off the rush and slipped a shot through Andersen’s five-hole at an electric TD Garden.

“He got it off quick, he made a good move. He’s a good player. He scored a few. He surprised me a little bit,” said Andersen.