A pair of goals late in the second period broke a 1-1 tie, and the Bruins pulled away in the third for a 5-1 victory over the Maple Leafs on Thursday night in Game 1 of their best-of-7 first-round playoff series

Mike Loftus The Patriot Ledger

 BOSTON -- Truth to tell, the Maple Leafs were happy where they were late in Thursday night’s second period, and would probably take it again in Game 2 on Saturday night. A visiting team in a 1-1 tie with just over a period to go in a playoff game usually considers itself to be in pretty good shape.

That’s not always the case when the home team is patient, though, and the Bruins qualified in Game 1 of their best-of-7 first-round series against the Leafs. The result was a 5-1 victory that looked like it was achieved in the final 24 minutes, but for which the foundation was laid while it was still 1-1.

“It was a composed effort by the guys,” said winger David Backes, whose power play goal with 4:17 left in the second period snapped a 1-1 tie and started what proved to be a four-goal rally. “Whether we were on the penalty kill, on the power play, stuck in our zone at 5-on-5, or threatening to score, we never got out of sorts. We never got ahead of ourselves.

“We played the play that was in front of us, and moved on to the next one after that.”

Many of those plays resulted in special teams situations, and the Bruins were clear, landslide winners there. The power play went 3 for 6, netting a goal in each period, and the penalty-killers were a perfect 3 for 3. Much of the special teams play came when the game still hung in the balance, too: The B’s killed two penalties at the start of the second period to keep the score 1-1, and Backes’ goal broke that tie.

“We stuck with the game plan,” said David Krejci, who fed Backes for the go-ahead goal, and then closed the scoring during a five-minute power play with 8:31 remaining. “Our penalty kill did a good job, and our power play helped to win the game.”

The only way the Bruins might have put themselves in position to lose it would have been if they broke from their plan during the nearly 20 minutes it was a 1-1 game.

They got the start they wanted when Rick Nash, who made a strong return from a 12-game absence with a concussion, drew a penalty that led to a power-play goal for Brad Marchand, who had limped to the end of the regular season with one assist and minus-8 rating over the last six games.

That goal came at 5:28; the Leafs’ Zach Hyman beat Tuukka Rask (26 saves) with 3:08 left in the first, and it stayed 1-1 until Backes scored.

“We had pockets where we were the better team early on, I thought,” B’s coach Bruce Cassidy said. “(The Leafs) got the game back after they scored. … We got it back in the second.

“We cashed in on a power play when they didn’t, and then we got a nice cycle goal. … That was the big goal to me -- the third goal. All of a sudden you’re up by two, your best players are feeling it, and we know we can play winning hockey in the third period.”

That critical goal came off the stick of David Pastrnak with 38 seconds left in the second, after the forechecking and cycling of Marchand (goal, assist) and Bergeron (one assist) led to not just one, but two shots from the slot. Pastrnak converted the second one to make it 3-1.

Rookie center Sean Kuraly, who had missed the last seven games of the regular season with an upper body injury, made it 4-1 by bunting the rebound of Pastrnak’s drive to the net past Frederik Andersen (35 saves) at 7:41 of the third. Krejci’s goal came late in the five-minute power play the B’s were awarded after the Leafs' Nazem Kadri was hit with a major penalty and game misconduct for charging Tommy Wingels into the boards, sending Wingels out of the game for evaluation.

It was the only dark spot on a night the Bruins’ did most of what they wanted.

“I think this was a great sign from us,” Backes said. “That being said, it was one game, and we’ve got to start from scratch on Saturday.”