Marchand scored twice in 3rd to lift Bruins over Maple Leafs

TORONTO — Brad Marchand scored two goals in the third period and the Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 42 on Friday night.

Charlie Coyle had a goal and an assist, and Zdeno Chara added a score for Boston (1234). Tuukka Rask made 29 stops for the Bruins, who snapped a 022 slide.

Auston Matthews and Kasperi Kapanen scored for Toronto (984). Frederik Andersen made 30 saves.

The Leafs have dropped four straight games, the last three in regulation.

Toronto beat the Bruins 43 in overtime at Scotiabank Arena on Oct. 22. The Leafs are 041 in the second half of backtoback sets in 201920. The Bruins are 110.

Boston snapped a 11 tie 11 seconds into the third when Marchand scored his 12th goal of the season, scoring off his own rebound after stepping around Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly.

Toronto countered at 3:54, when Kapanen took a feed from John Tavares and scored his sixth. Marchand came back 1:14 later, again scoring off his own rebound.

Play was even for the rest of the third until Chara scored into an empty net with 1:33 left in regulation as Tavares smashed his stick over the crossbar in frustration.

Without star winger Mitch Marner (highankle sprain) and center Alexander Kerfoot (dental fractures), Jason Spezza was back in the lineup for the Leafs. But Toronto’s injury bug continued in the first when Trevor Moore took a big hit and didn’t return.

The Bruins were minus defenseman Torey Krug, as well as forwards Jake DeBrusk and Brett Ritchie, who are all nursing upperbody injuries.

Boston, which has eliminated its Atlantic Division rival in the first round of the playoffs the last two springs, led 10 after 20 minutes before the Leafs tied it midway through the second.

Jake Muzzin’s shot from the point looked to be headed wide, but Matthews lunged his stick out in the slot for a redirection that fooled Rask at 9:20. It was Matthews’ 14th goal, withstanding a brief video review.

The Bruins had a chance to retake the lead moments later when Sean Kuraly fired high over Andersen’s net on a breakaway.

Boston got a power play later in the period, with David Pastrnak just missing on a onetimer and Patrice Bergeron hitting the post on the rebound off the end boards.

Toronto nearly scored to grab its first lead when Kapanen put the puck through Bergeron’s skates at the blue line and then slid a nolook, behindtheback pass to Tavares, but the Leafs captain couldn’t find the target.

Boston grabbed a 10 advantage at 13:48 of the first when Coyle scored his third of the season after another Toronto mixup in the defensive zone. Leafs blueliner Travis Dermott was battling the Bruins center in front, but left his check to challenge Matt Grzelcyk, who promptly fed Coyle from behind Andersen’s net.

Both goalies were sharp early, with Andersen stopping Marchand and Pastrnak, while Rask stymied Andreas Johnsson on a partial breakaway before Spezza misfired a loose puck with what looked like a sure goal. Matthews also hit the post from in tight.

Moore took a crunching, openice hit from Chris Wagner later in the period, went right to Toronto’s locker room and was ruled out shortly thereafter.

NOTES: The Hockey Hall of Fame’s class of 2019 — Hayley Wickenheiser, Guy Carbonneau, Sergei Zubov, Vaclav Nedomansky, Jim Rutherford and Jerry York — was honored before the game. … Attendance was 19,434.

UP NEXT

Bruins: Host Washington on Saturday night.

Maple Leafs: At Pittsburgh on Saturday night.