Marchand pair lifts Bruins past Leafs
BOSTON 4 TORONTO 2 (Bruins lead series 2-1)
TORONTO — Brad Marchand had a relatively quiet — at least by his in-your-face standards — start to the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Sure, the Bruins captain drew some key penalties and picked up three assists through six periods against the Maple Leafs.
He’d also yet to truly leave his mark. And it felt like only a matter of time before one of the NHL’s best both with the puck on his stick, and at hockey’s dark arts when it isn’t, properly entered the fray.
The moment arrived Wednesday.
Marchand scored twice, including the winner, in a threepoint performance as Boston picked up a 4-2 victory to grab a 2-1 lead in this first-round series on a night where the home side was left frustrated by a player who’s spent a lot of his career doing exactly that.
“The gamesmanship and everything, it’s world class,” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “He’s been in the league long enough … he gets calls.
“It’s unbelievable, actually, how it goes. We’ve got to play through that.”
Marchand got tangled up with Tyler Bertuzzi in the second period with Toronto up 1-0. A frothing Scotiabank Arena crowd clamouring for a penalty, the referees took no issues before Trent Frederic scored the tying goal seconds later.
“I don’t think there’s another player in this series that gets away with taking out Bertuzzi’s legs the way that he does,” Keefe continued. “It’s an art and he’s elite at it.
“We have to manage our way through that.”
Jake DeBrusk had the other goal for Boston. The Bruins got 28 stops from Jeremy Swayman, who made 35 saves in his team’s 5-1 victory in Game 1 before giving way to crease counterpart Linus Ullmark in the Leafs’ 3-2 triumph two nights later.
“We stuck with it all game,” Marchand said. “We elevated to another level.”
Bertuzzi and Matthew Knies replied for Toronto. Ilya Samsonov made 30 saves. Leafs winger William Nylander missed a third straight contest with an undisclosed injury.
Game 4 of the best-of-seven matchup goes Saturday. Game 5 is set for Tuesday in Boston.
Moments after Toronto tied things 2-2 in the third, and then nearly grabbed the lead off a Swayman turnover, Marchand took a pass from Danton Heinen and ripped a shot past Samsonov’s ear at 11:53.
Toronto pulled its goaltender for the extra attacker with just over two minutes to go, but Leafs captain John Tavares took a holding penalty with 64 seconds left and Marchand sealed it into the empty net.
“He obviously wants to get under our skin and influence the refs,” Knies said. “We’ve just got to be composed and not get into that bulls—-.”
Tied 1-1 through 40 minutes, DeBrusk bagged his third goal in as many games when he scored on a man advantage 67 seconds after the restart off a Marchand rebound when the Leafs lost structure on their struggling penalty kill.
Toronto’s power play came over the boards a few minutes later, but couldn’t connect despite a couple of great chances for Bertuzzi, slipping to 0-for-5 on the night and 1-for-11 in the series.
Bruins winger James van Riemsdyk hit the post on a partial break midway through the period before Bertuzzi tipped a Morgan Rielly shot off Boston defenceman Hampus Lindholm to tie the game 2-2.
Marchand responded just 28 seconds later to give his team a lead it would never surrender to re-establish home-ice advantage.
Golden Knights 3, Stars 1
DALLAS — Noah Hanifin broke a tie with an unassisted goal late in the second period and the Stanley Cup champion Las Vegas Golden Knights beat the top-seeded Dallas Stars 3-1 on Wednesday night to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.
Hanifin was one of the three trade-deadline acquisitions for the Knights.
Jonathan Marchessault scored his second goal of the series.
Jack Eichel assisted on Marchessault’s goal and added an empty-netter.