Bruins rake up Leafs
Pastrnak erupts in Game 2
Bruce Cassidy guaranteed the Bruins would not fall victim to overconfidence after Thursday night’s series opening 5-1 victory over Toronto.
In last night’s Game 2 at the Garden, the B’s energetically engaged the desperate Maple Leafs and pounded out a 7-3 victory to the delight of a jubilant house.
Leading the way again was the Bruins top line, with David Pastrnak erupting for a career night of three goals and three assists. Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron had four assists apiece as the line was a combined plus-14 — powering the B’s to a 2-0 series lead as the scene shifts to the Air Canada Centre in Toronto tomorrow night. Tuukka Rask had another solid outing, finishing with 30 saves.
Cassidy anticipated a Toronto tempest in the opening shift of the game, and the Maple Leafs delivered. The Bruins were hemmed in their zone by the swarming Leafs but survived the initial onslaught.
“They are going to bring it,” said Cassidy following the Bruins pregame skate. “For us, it’s about Game 2 and this will be a new animal and we have to adjust accordingly.”
The Bruins reversed course quickly and took a 1-0 lead at 5:26 on Pastrnak’s second goal of the playoffs. Torey Krug dumped the puck into the Toronto zone in Pastrnak’s direction. The winger stabilized the puck in the low slot, went to the net and stuffed it around Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen.
The B’s went up 2-0 on the power play at 9:46 on a slick set of passes. Patrice Bergeron fed the puck to Krug, who pinched low below the right circle. The defenseman fired a pass through the crease that was deflected in by Jake DeBrusk on the doorstep.
The Bruins remained a relentless force and took a 3-0 lead and knocked out Andersen at 12:13. Defenseman Kevan Miller took a pass from Pastrnak in the left corner. Miller made a pair of elusive moves and fired a sharp-angled wrist shot that deflected off Leafs defenseman Nikita Zaitsev by Andersen.
Toronto coach Mike Babcock gave Andersen the hook, replacing him with backup Curtis McElhinney. But less that three minutes later, the B’s pushed the lead to four with their second power-play goal of the game. Krug fed Pastrnak, who one-timed a slapper through a screen. Rick Nash got behind scooped up the puck in front of McElhinney and backhanded the puck home at the 15-minute mark.
A lazy pass by David Krejci in the Leafs zone led to a 2-on-1 breakout and a Toronto goal 1:22 into the second period. Mitchell Marner intercepted Krejci’s drop pass to Krug and raced up the right boards with Zach Hyman on his flank. Marner ditched to Hyman, who fed back to Marner for the finish.
But Krejci made amends at 3:46 on a sweet tip-in of Pastrnak’s one-timer.
The Leafs cut the lead to 5-2 at 9:02 when Connor Brown set up Tyler Bozak. But Pastrnak made sure there was no comeback in store with his second goal of the night on a hustle play at 12:34 of the third. He followed a Brad Marchand breakaway and picked up the puck along the end boards. Pastrnak skated in front and scored high wrist shot.
James van Riemsdyk made it 6-3 for the Leafs on the power play at 14:53, but Pastrnak completed his hat trick at 18:24 with a
sweet deke around McElhinney to finish off another fabulous night for the Bruins.