With one last chance to hang a loss on the Bruins in the regular season and a likely first-round playoff series looming, the Toronto Maple Leafs came into the Garden seemingly intent on making some kind of statement.
The only message that was delivered, however, was that the Leafs still had no solution to the Bruins.
The B’s scored three second-period goals to pull away and beat the Leafs, 4-1, in a hard-hitting affair that had to make the 2011 Stanley Cup team, the night’s honorees, crack a little bit of a smile. The B’s completed the four-game season sweep of the Leafs and notched their seventh straight win over Toronto.
A total of 91 hits were recorded, with the B’s holding a 46-45 edge. And those numbers didn’t feel inflated.
“It was a response to getting cross-checked in the throat,” said captain Brad Marchand of the game-long chippiness. “That’s where it all starts, right? And then after that, emotions are high with everybody and it just carries through the game. And that’s what happens in playoff time. It was a great opportunity for us, a great test. They tried to play hard tonight. They competed and we pushed back, they pushed back again. Those are the types of games that you love to be a part of.”
While the glove-to-the-face hockey was fun to see, the B’s, more importantly, have put together three good defensive games. It’s muted a little with the late blown lead to Edmonton on Tuesday but, while facing Auston Matthews twice and Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl once, the B’s have allowed just three regulation goals in three games after being blown out on Long Island last Saturday.
“I think it was everybody realizing we weren’t being sharp,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “Again, I can’t give enough credit to our leaders. They hold everyone in the room accountable and people follow suit, because we do have good leaders and we do have real good people under them that are sub-leaders.”
In an emotion-filled first period, the B’s took a 1-0 lead but, thanks to Toronto goalie Joseph Woll, the Leafs kept any further damage at bay in the opening 20 minutes.
It seemed Toronto’s early strategy was to go at Marchand. Calle Jarnkrok gave him a good, clean check at the Boston blue line early in the game. Then, after a pending interference call coming on Jake McCabe, Matthew Knies just leveled Marchand behind the net with a hit that was far from clean, the aforementioned cross-check to the throat. After the ensuing scrum, the B’s were rightly given a two-minute 5-on-3.
They needed nearly all of it to take advantage. At 5:37, with 17 seconds left on the two-man power play, Jake DeBrusk found David Pastrnak for a backdoor goal for his 39th of the season.
The B’s had several chances to build on that lead in the hard-hitting first. First, Trent Frederic deflected a Morgan Geekie feed just wide. Then Woll made a great stop on a play that would have led most of the hockey highlights. Mason Lohrei dangled through Morgan Rielly and then made a nice backhand pass to Justin Brazeau at the top of the crease but Woll was able to kick out his redirect.
Thanks to a handful of lost defensive zone faceoffs, it appeared as though the Leafs were poised to tie the game early in the second period. But when William Nylander did one too many dipsy-doo moves near the blue line, Frederic made him pay. Frederic swiped at the puck and Nylander lost it, allowing Frederic to take off on a breakaway with Nylander in hot pursuit. From the high slot, Frederic beat Woll with a low wrister between the pads at 4:16. It was Frederic’s 17th, tying his career high he set last season.
But trouble was awaiting.
In a net-front battle, Tyler Bertuzzi and Charlie Coyle were going at until Coyle went high on Bertuzzi and the short-term Bruin hit the deck. Coyle was given a pair of minors and the B’s had four minutes to kill. They killed off the first penalty but got too cute on the second one. Marchand and Danton Heinen played around with the puck at the Toronto blue line Heinen’s return pass to Marchand was too far. Timothy Liljegren made a smart read and sent Mitch Marner off on a breakaway, which he buried past Jeremy Swayman’s blocker at 7:56.
Emotions continued to run hot, with Bertuzzi and Parker Wotherspoon squaring off (Bertuzzi getting the unanimous decision). Then the B’s did not like a Noah Gregor’s leg trip on Charlie McAvoy and Geekie took a roughing penalty to nullify the power play.
It didn’t matter. Toronto took a high-sticking penalty during the 4-on-4 and, after 4-on-3 time expired, Geekie came out of the box and gave the B’s their two-goal lead back off a Kevin Shattenkirk feed at 17:16 on the 5-on-4, his 15th of the year.
Then they pushed the advantage to three goals 1:07 later when Brandon Carlo’s blue line shot got past Woll, his fourth of the season.
The attempted message-sending by the Leafs continued into the third. After the B’s killed a penalty, Max Domi roughed Marchand along the board and yet another scrum materialized. As the skaters were going at, Swayman came out to the neutral zone and signaled to Woll to get it on, but the Leaf goalie stayed in the net.
“It probably didn’t call for it, but to see my guys go in, it’s a team effort. We all go in,” said Swayman. “(Woll) is my buddy and I respect the hell out of him. It was just an opportunity, but nothing happened.”
The Leafs never got closer on the scoreboard but Domi went after McAvoy one more time with 1:31 left. It did nothing to change the result.
“I like our physicality,” said Montgomery. “Theirs was a little too late.”
The B’s have now opened a nine-point lead on the Leafs, which means if the B’s can’t catch the white-hot Panthers, they most likely have home ice advantage. One would also think they have a mental edge over the Leafs, given the recent history. Not so, said Marchand.
“No matter what happens in the regular season, it means nothing,” said Marchand. “Once playoffs start, it’s a new season, you’re scouting each other way more. You don’t scout each other much in the regular season, but once the playoffs start, you really bear down in your defensive game, you tighten up, you play more physical. The game tonight has no bearing on the next game.”
And when it comes to the Bruins, no one would appreciate a clean sheet more than the Leafs.
