Late dramatics let Leafs inch closer to Bruins
Toronto clears 80 points for first time in 3 years
On the first day of spring, the Air Canada Centre had a definite playoff feel to it.
And the home side Toronto Maple Leafs just might be there for the real thing in three weeks after a 4-2 win over Boston to close within a point of the Bruins. It was the second straight intense tight-checking one-goal game against a team ahead of them in the schedule and this time Toronto finished on the winning side.
Tyler Bozak put them ahead with a couple of minutes remaining with a power play goal and William Nylander and Nazem Kadri added empty- netters. Dominic Moore, in the box when Bozak scored, added a late goal for the Bruins.
Aiming high in the stand- ings, to catch the Bruins instead of just protecting their tenuous wild card spot, the Leafs cleared 80 points for the first time in three years. The Leafs have 11 games remaining to solidify a position and hold off pursuers led by the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders, both idle on Monday night.
Leafs’ goaltender Frederik Andersen was once more heavily involved, with his fourth straight win against Boston this season to complete the first Toronto sweep of the Bs since the teams were reunited in the same division in 1998. He stopped 31 shots as Toronto improved to 5-11 in the Dane’s last seven games.
Toronto s ur vi ved t he Bruins’ best efforts at forechecking, transition and another 11 wins by Patrice Bergeron in the circle in the first 13 draws he took over 40 minutes. Tuukka Rask, 15- 42 against the Leafs coming in, was also equal to the task when the Leafs made things happen with their own cycle, speed, shot blocks and active sticks. For the second straight game, Toronto was tied 1-1 entering the third.
The Leafs’ constant vow to “start on time” and not have to rely so much on Andersen faced an immediate challenge when the clock refused to run at the opening faceoff and was stuck at 20: 00 and acted up throughout the period.
After a somewhat tentative start by both teams, old Leaf- Bruin nastiness began to build. Brad Marchand showed why he’s fighting for the Art Ross Trophy, getting his 80th point with a nice spin move in the Leaf zone to create space. That allowed David Backes a short side goal past two screening defencemen.
Bruins’ defenceman Torey Krug had all kinds of room to move in after getting free of the Leaf defence and fired it high and wide, leading to Toronto pressure on its first goal during 4- on- 4 play. Nikita Soshnikov took a run at Bergeron that resulted in retaliation and offsetting minors. Though Rask made some nice saves after Leafs pressure, no Bruin picked up Morgan Rielly lurking in from the blue line. Mitch Marner f ound him and though Rielly seemed to lose the puck in mid deke, it still squirted through Rask for his sixth goal.
For Marner it was his 39th assist, one behind Gus Bodnar’s rookie record from 1943- 44, while James van Riemsdyk matched his career high with helper No. 31. The first period also saw a player on each team take a hard puck to the head from friendly fire, Bruins’ Matt Beleskey and Leafs’ Leo Komarov, while Boston had to kill a long 5- on- 3, coming about when Bergeron’s clearing attempt scaled both benches.
After staying out of the box throughout Saturday’s 2-1 overtime loss to Chicago, it was Toronto’s turn to circle the wagons in the middle period. Nikita Zaitsev fell into the Marchand shift disturber trap after a couple of exchanges with the super pest, flattening him after a whistle. Even Komarov, who specializes in such skulduggery for the Leafs, was antagonized by Marchand at times. Soshnikov was trying to do the same, though the littlest Leaf was squashed a couple of times by the by 6- foot- 9 Zdeno Chara.
Toronto has a day off before back to back home games against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday and the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.