Bruins win

Tuukka Rask made 31 saves as the Boston Bruins beat Toronto 3-1 on Thursday night to take a 3-1 lead in their NHL playoff series.

BRUINS 3, MAPLE LEAFS 1

TORONTO — Brad Marchand scored the goahead goal in the second period and Tuukka Rask made 31 saves as the Boston Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on Thursday night to take a 3-1 lead in their firstround NHL playoff series.

Torey Krug and Jake DeBrusk also had goals for the Bruins, who can win the Eastern Conference quarterfinal when they host Game 5 on Saturday at Boston’s TD Garden. David Pastrnak added two assists.

Tomas Plekanec scored the lone goal for the Leafs, who got 18 saves from Frederik Andersen.

Patrice Bergeron, part of a top line that combined for 20 points in the Bruins’ two home victories to open the series, was a surprise late scratch with an upper-body injury. Riley Nash took his spot between Marchand and Pastrnak.

Marchand snapped a 1-1 tie for Boston with 3:05 left in the second after the Bruins were called for icing. Leafs Coach Mike Babcock put his top line, centered by Auston Matthews, out hoping to pounce on a tired group, but Nash won the draw to Adam

McQuaid, whose clearing attempt up the boards skipped past Toronto defenseman Jake Gardiner. Pastrnak moved in on a 2-on-1 with Marchand, faking a shot to draw the overaggressive Nikita Zaitsev to him before feeding his linemate with a slick pass for a wide-open net.

The Leafs had a number of chances earlier in the period to go ahead, including Mitch Marner’s breakaway off a stretch pass from Morgan Rielly that Rask turned aside with the blocker, but were unable to get one by Rask.

Boston then made it 3-1 at 4:17 of the third. David Krejci blocked Travis Dermott’s shot and raced the other way on a 2-on-1 before finding DeBrusk, who beat a helpless Andersen after Roman Polak failed to block the pass across.

WEDNESDAY’S LATE GAMES PREDATORS 3, AVALANCHE 2

DENVER — Filip Forsberg scored another creative goal, Pekka Rinne rebounded from a rocky performance with 31 saves, and the Nashville Predators withstood a furious rally by the Colorado Avalanche for a victory in Game 4 to take a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.

Colton Sissons and Craig Smith also added goals for the Predators, who can close out the series today when it shifts back to Nashville for Game 5.

Rinne was solid early after being pulled from the last game. Cruising along and up 3-0, the Vezina Trophy finalist allowed Gabriel Landeskog’s 5-on-3 power-play goal in the third and another on Alexander Kerfoot’s tap-in off a rebound.

SHARKS 2, DUCKS 1

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Tomas Hertl scored the tiebreaking goal 9:09 into the third period, Martin Jones was spectacular in goal yet again, and the San Jose Sharks completed a first-round sweep of the rival Anaheim Ducks with a victory in Game 4.

Hertl scored just 1:16 after the Ducks finally got a puck past Jones when he deflected a point shot from MarcEdouard Vlasic past John Gibson. San Jose then held on to advance to the second round against the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.