Bruins stake 3-1 series lead
TORONTO Facing an opponent missing arguably its best player in front of a raucous home crowd, the Toronto Maple Leafs felt pretty good heading into Thursday.
Less than three hours later, they had been pushed to the playoff brink.
Brad Marchand scored the winner and Tuukka Rask made 31 saves as the Boston Bruins defeated the Leafs 3-1 to grab a commanding 3-1 lead in their first-round series.
Boston was minus No. 1 centre Patrice Bergeron, who was a late scratch with an upper-body injury, but it didn’t matter as the Bruins ground out a victory on a night where some of Toronto’s young stars failed to produce on the big stage.
“We were set up pretty good,” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock lamented. “We didn’t take advantage. “That’s on us.” Torey Krug and Jake DeBrusk had the other goals for the Bruins, who can seal the Eastern Conference quarterfinal at home in Game 5 on Saturday. David Pastrnak added two assists.
Tomas Plekanec replied for the Leafs, who got 18 stops from Frederik Andersen and will look to bring the series back to Air Canada Centre on Monday with win at TD Garden — a venue where they were outscored a combined 12-4 in Games 1 and 2.
“We gave them opportunities and they didn’t miss,” Leafs forward Mitch Marner said of Thursday’s loss. “Now it’s do or die.”
CAPITALS 4, BLUE JACKETS 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Evgeny Kuznetsov had a goal and two assists, and Braden Holtby stopped 23 shots as the Washington Capitals beat the Columbus Blue Jackets to even their playoff series at two games apiece.
Tom Wilson and Alexander Ovechkin each had a goal and an assist, and T.J. Oshie also scored for the workmanlike Capitals, who won this time in regulation after the first three games of the best-of-7 series were decided in overtime.
This one lacked the intensity of the first three, and there was no comeback magic for the Blue Jackets. In fact, they were just flat through a good chunk of the first two periods, chasing pucks and flubbing passes. They finally seem to get out of the quicksand near the end of the second period after coach John Tortorella started switching up the lines.
Boone Jenner scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky had 29 saves for Columbus.
Preds’ Hartman suspended
The NHL has suspended Nashville Predators forward Ryan Hartman for Game 5 against the Colorado Avalanche for an illegal check to the head of Carl Soderberg.
The league’s Department of Player Safety issued the suspension Thursday after a hearing.
Hartman was penalized for charging Soderberg at 4:52 of the third period. Soderberg was skating across the blue line and had just passed the puck to a teammate when Hartman hit him in the head.