Bruins knock Maple Leafs out of running
BOSTON: Jake DeBrusk’s go-ahead goal with 14:35 minutes remaining in the third period led the hosts Boston Bruins to a 7-4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game Seven of their Eastern Conference first-round series on Wednesday night.
DeBrusk scored two goals and David Pastrnak added one, giving them a share of the team play-off lead with five. Patrice Bergeron had a goal and two assists while Pastrnak and Brad Marchand each had a goal and an assist. Danton Heinen and Torey Krug also scored for the Bruins.
Boston, who earned their first play-off series victory since the 2013-14 season, will face the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
“I think that we’re all just pretty excited right now to have a chance to continue playing together and take on Tampa,” DeBrusk said. “We’re going to enjoy this one tonight, but then go back to the drawing board. I think our next game’s Saturday [tomorrow], so we’ve got a couple days to regroup and get re-energised.”
Patrick Marleau had two goals, giving him a team-best four play-off goals. Travis Dermott and Kasperi Kapanen each scored his first of the postseason for Toronto, who forced a decisive seventh game with back-to-back wins after falling into a 3-1 series hole.
The Maple Leafs have not won a play-off series since 2003-04.
“It’s always disappointing,” Marleau told reporters after the game. “Obviously, you’re trying to win the Cup. To fall short once again, it’s heartbreaking every time.”
Boston goalie Tuukka Rask finished with 20 saves and improved to 2-2 all-time in Game Sevens. Frederik Andersen made 29 saves for Toronto.
DeBrusk skated end-to-end for his decisive third-period goal, finding Andersen’s five-hole.
“It was a very special feeling, especially making it 5-4 at that point,” DeBrusk said. “I knew that as soon as we got the lead there, the next goal, we were going to be fine. It was very special.”
Pastrnak made it a 6-4 game on his goal at 11:39 minutes of the third. Marchand scored an empty-netter with 50.9 seconds left.
Toronto coach Mike Babcock said of Boston’s third-period surge, “We’ll have lots of time to look at those goals and get that figured out. The bottom line is we went out for the third period and they scored and we didn’t. Once they scored, they tilted the rink, and I don’t even know how many looks we had if we had any.”
Marleau’s first goal with 17:55 minutes left in the first period gave Toronto a 1-0 lead before Boston tied it on DeBrusk’s first goal with 15:13 minutes to go in the first.
Marleau’s second tally at 6:12 minutes of the first made it 2-1 before Heinen (at 9:10) and Bergeron (at 19:23) scored to put the Bruins up 3-2 after one.
Dermott scored 2:07 into the second and Kapanen struck at 6:05 minutes of the second to restore a one-goal lead for Toronto.
Krug’s goal tied the game at four just 1:10 minutes into the third.