Shorthanded Bruins continue to find way
Pick up shootout victory over the Leafs
When the evening began, many observers may have thought that if the Bruins somehow managed a point against the high-powered Toronto Maple Leafs that the would have a decent moral victory.
The B’s were missing half their defense corps — Charlie McAvoy (suspension), Matt Grzelcyk (upper body) and Derek Forbort (lower body) — and the talented Leafs were looking to atone for a bad home loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
Instead, it was the Leafs who were lucky to grab a single.
The B’s lost a two-goal lead in the second period, but they regained momentum in the thrid period and overtime before Jake DeBrusk and Charlie Coyle scored in the shootout while Jeremy Swayman (33 saves in regulation) stopped William Nylander and Auston Matthews to lift the B’s to a 3-2 victory in a thoroughly entertaining game at the Garden on Thursday.
“It’s such a fun group to work with because we have a lot to get better at, but we find ways to win,” said coach Jim Montgomery, whose team improved to 9-0-1.
The call-ups, meanwhile, did their job — and then some. While the third pairing of Parker Wotherspoon and Ian Mitchell held their own, rookie Mason Lohrei looks like he will be an impact player for years to come. He picked up his first NHL point with an assist and could have had a couple more. Though he was playing in first big league, he was not shy about showing off his skill in the offensive zone, though he wasn’t reckless about it.
“I felt good,” said Lohrei. “I just tried to keep it simple and obviously I had some good partners to work with.”
Lohrei impressed his teammates.
“You could see in training camp. He’s gifted,” said captain Brad Marchand. “Big kid, skates well, he’s really smart with the puck. What I liked about his game tonight is he didn’t try to do too much. That’s where he could get into trouble a little bit. When you have that talent and ability, you can sometimes want to try to do a little too much and he didn’t do that. He made strong plays, competed hard and took what was in front of him.”
Considering the players missing, the B’s understandably started out a little shaky on their breakouts, but the Leafs were not accepting any gifts the B’s had to offer.
Late in the period, Toronto appeared to be getting in a groove when their top two lines had back-toback good shifts in the Boston zone but they were not able to get multiple chances on Swayman.
Then the B’s took control of the game for a period of time.
They broke the ice with 1:09 left in the first period on an all-around great play. Danton Heinen, playing his second game since signing, dove to keep the puck alive and get it back to Lohrei, who dished it over to Brandon Carlo, who carried the puck in deep, froze goalie Ilya Samsonov and then passed to Pavel Zacha for a redirect goal into the empty net, Zacha’s fourth of the year.
Tempers climbed after Marchand blasted Timothy Liljegren in the corner, injuring the Toronto defenseman. There was no penalty on the play, but Marchand was jawing with Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe. Then at the horn, Max Domi tried to deliver a reverse hit on Marchand, who completely sidestepped the hit.
“(Keefe) was just saying ‘hi,’ ” said Marchand with a grin.
The B’s kept the pressure up to start the second. After Samsonov stoned Morgan Geekie off a great set up by James van Riemsdyk, the B’s made it a 2-0 at 1:36 off another pretty play.
The B’s turned the puck over out high in the defensive zone with Coyle sending DeBrusk up the left wing. In the offensive zone, DeBrusk slipped a pass through a Toronto defender to Marchand, who was stopped by Samsonov. DeBrusk kept on coming, however, and put back the rebound for his first goal of the season.
But then the B’s got sloppy with the puck and the Leafs tied it up with two goals in 1:03. Lohrei had just sent Zacha in alone, but Samsonov kept it from becoming a 3-0 deficit with a great stop. The Leafs came right back up the ice. Matthews made a pretty dish to Mitch Marner at the Boston blue line, then Marner made a nice maneuver around Carlo to get a shot off that deflected off Lohrei’s stick and past Swayman.
Then, when Kevin Shattenkirk could not connect with Coyle along the left boards, Matthews snapped a bar-down shot from the high slot to even it all up.
Through two periods, the Leafs held a 27-25 shot advantage and were starting to spend too much time in the B’s end. Swayman managed to keep it even going into the third.
Again, just when it looked like Leafs were ready to take over, the B’s fought back. They had several chances to get the goahead goal late in the third, but Samsonov came up with some big saves. The B’s could not convert on an overtime power play, either.
But in the shootout, DeBrusk went with his patented flip over the blocker and Coyle buried a shot between Samsonov’s pads, leading the B’s to the win.