BOSTON -- They got the start they wanted, but their finish was even better.
The Bruins broke a 1-1 tie with two goals late in the second period, then added two more in the third to take a 5-1 victory over the Maple Leafs on Thursday night at TD Garden in Game 1 of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.
Game 2 is at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Garden.
The B’s, who got 25 saves from Tuukka Rask, put the [...]
BOSTON -- They got the start they wanted, but their finish was even better.
The Bruins broke a 1-1 tie with two goals late in the second period, then added two more in the third to take a 5-1 victory over the Maple Leafs on Thursday night at TD Garden in Game 1 of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.
Game 2 is at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Garden.
The B’s, who got 25 saves from Tuukka Rask, put the game away on third-period goals by Sean Kuraly and David Krejci, the latter during a five-minute power play after the Leafs’ Nazem Kadri earned a major penalty and game misconduct for charging B’s forward Tommy Wingels, who left the game.
The Bruins scored twice in the final 4:17 of the second period to take control.
The line of rookie left wing Jake DeBrusk, Krejci and right wing Rick Nash, who missed the last 12 games of the regular season with a concussion, won a physical shift that resulted in Patrick Marleau taking a hooking penalty against DeBrusk at 13:59. Late in that power play, Krejci and David Backes -- who had collided behind the Leafs’ net a few seconds earlier -- hooked up for the goal that broke a 1-1 tie. Backes stuck with a cross-crease pass from Krejci that was deflected, gaining enough control to chip it over Frederik Andersen and just under the crossbar.
The Bruins’ top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak, which slumped over the final week of the regular season, made it 3-1 just 38 seconds before the period ended. Bergeron’s perfect forecheck put the puck on Marchand’s stick and, after one shot was denied, Bergeron retrieved a second time and fed Marchand again. He hit Pastrnak in the high slot, and Pastrnak’s rising wrist shot beat Andersen to the far side.
Two key Bruins had big first periods.
Nash, playing for the first time since March 17, tied for the team lead with three hits over his seven shifts, got off a couple of shot attempts, and his strong rush going led to the game’s first penalty, a hooking call against James Van Riemsdyk at 5:04.
The Bruins turned that power play into a 1-0 lead just 24 seconds later.
Marchand, minus-8 with just one assist over the last six games of the regular season, scored off a clever Torey Krug pass. Krug, taking advantage of contact between Bergeron and Zach Hyman to gain a free pass across the Leafs’ blue line, slid a pass through the skates of defenseman Roman Polak to Marchand, who took the puck to the net and beat Andersen with a backhander.
The goal was the 18th of Marchand’s 73-game playoff career, but only his second in his last 19 post-season games.
The Leafs found their legs and matched the B’s for the rest of the period. They tied it 3:08 before intermission on a great individual effort by Hyman, who beat David Krejci to a puck at center ice, then took on Charlie McAvoy 1-on-1. Hyman ducked inside McAvoy in the right circle, kept going to the goalmouth, and beat Rask with a 10-footer to the far side.