Marchand comes alive in Bruins' win

It's the playoffs, meaning it's the time of year in which Brad Marchand is at his best — scoring, passing and getting under his opponent's skin.

“It's a time he loves to play, and he shows it,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said after Marchand's twogoal, three-assist game in Boston's 5-2 Game 4 victory over the Hurricanes on Sunday tied the firstround series at 2-2.

“There's some chirping going on now, too,” Cassidy said. “And I think that can elevate his game, as well.”

Patrice Bergeron had a goal and two assists and drew a game-altering high-sticking double minor from Sebastian Aho at the end of the second period that gave the Bruins a 5-on-3 and left their captain with a black eye and several stitches.

Sixty-eight seconds after the penalty, and 44 seconds into the third period, Marchand scored to break a 2-2 tie.

“This is what every kid's kind of hoping — to get that opportunity playing for that Cup,” Marchand said. “These are the most fun games to play in, when there's high emotion, high intensity and the most is on the line. If you can't play in these games, I don't know what you're playing for.”

Bruins scratched top defenseman Charlie McAvoy after he went into the NHL's COVID-19 protocol about an hour before the opening faceoff.

BLUES 5, WILD 2 >> St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington didn't lose any sleep when he was informed by coach Craig Berube that he would be starting for the first time this postseason.

“He's always the same, he doesn't give me much of a reaction,” Berube said.

Instead, Binnington let his play do the talking.

Binnington made 28 saves and St. Louis beat Minnesota to even the their series at two games apiece.

Jordan Kyrou and David Perron each scored twice and Ryan O'Reilly added a goal and two assists for St. Louis.

Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy scored for Minnesota.

Binnington, who had lost his previous nine postseason starts, picked up his first playoff win since beating Boston in Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.

Binnington had been supplanted by Ville Husso, who gave up nine goals on 59 shots combined in Games 2 and 3 after shutting out the Wild with 37 saves in the opener.

“You have to be ready for whatever comes up,” Binnington said. “We just have to focus on our job, whatever it is that night.” LIGHTNING 7, MAPLE LEAFS 3 >> Steven Stamkos, PierreEdouard Bellemare and Pat Maroon scored in the first eight minutes and Tampa Bay cruised past Toronto.

Ross Colton netted two goals, Corey Perry and Ondrej Palat also scored and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves for the twotime defending champion Lightning, who evened the series at 2-2.