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Toronto Maple Leafs

Maple Leafs Trick Bruins

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TORONTO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Toronto’s Matthew Knies recorded his first career hat trick and added two assists as the Maple Leafs defeated the visiting Boston Bruins 6-4 on Saturday night.

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Mitch Marner added an empty-net goal and four assists for the Maple Leafs, who have won three games in a row.

Auston Matthews (upper-body injury) returned after missing six games and had an empty-net goal and two assists. Jake McCabe contributed a goal and an assist, and Joseph Woll made 26 saves.

David Pastrnak scored twice for the Bruins, who have lost three straight. Morgan Geekie and Trent Frederic also scored, and Pavel Zacha had two assists. Jeremy Swayman stopped 23 shots.

Pastrnak hit the goal post with a shot 32 seconds into a fast-paced first period.

McCabe opened the scoring at 3:29 of the first with a wrist shot from the left circle on a nifty pass from Marner.

The teams traded goals 12 seconds apart early in the second period.

Knies redirected a shot by Matthews at 3:37 after Boston failed to clear the puck, and Toronto led 2-0.

Geekie answered immediately with an eight-foot wrist shot. He pounced on a loose puck after Zacha jabbed at it following Charlie Coyle’s shot.

Boston tied the game at 18:44 of the second. After an icing call against Toronto, Frederic won the faceoff and scored with a 21-foot wrist shot from the slot after the return pass from Charlie McAvoy.

Knies scored on an eight-foot backhand at the end of a two-on-one with John Tavares at 3:43 of the third period.

Pastrnak tied the game 34 seconds later on a 34-foot snap shot after stealing the puck from a Maple Leafs player.

Toronto regained the lead when Knies scored at 5:28 on a high shot that hit the post and went in. Matthews won the puck at the end boards and made the pass into the slot.

Marner scored into an empty net at 17:55 of the third.

Pastrnak responded with a goal on a 14-foot wrist shot at 18:10, and Matthews sealed the result with an empty-net goal at 19:29.

–Field Level Media

Pastrnak Comes Through for Bruins

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston’s David Pastrnak scored 1:54 into overtime as the Bruins beat the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Saturday night in Game 7 of an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

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Pastrnak raced up the right wing and scored off the carom of defenseman Hampus Lindholm’s lob off the corner boards, tucking a backhander between the left post and the skate of Toronto goaltender Ilya Samsonov (29 saves).

Lindholm finished with a goal and an assist, tallying Boston’s only marker in regulation just 1:21 after Toronto’s William Nylander opened the scoring at 9:01 of the third period.

Jeremy Swayman made 30 saves for Boston, which has now won seven consecutive playoff series against Toronto dating back to 1969 and will meet the Florida Panthers in the second round.

Game 1 of the Bruins’ next series is set for Monday night in Sunrise, Fla.

Samsonov got the start since Joseph Woll did not dress due to an undisclosed injury sustained in Game 6. Nearly midway through the third, Toronto scored the go-ahead goal off an in-zone sequence. After Boston defenseman Brandon Carlo slipped and lost the puck in the corner, Auston Matthews — who returned from a two-game absence (illness) — picked it up and dished it to an open Nylander for him to deposit into the back of the net.

The hosts wasted little time responding. Justin Brazeau’s backhand from the bottom of the right circle deflected over the net, but Lindholm got the puck on the opposite wing and flicked it in off the right post.

Boston combined for just three first-period shots in Games 5 and 6, but it got off to a much better start on Saturday, outshooting the Maple Leafs 11-9 through the first 20 minutes of action.

However, Toronto picked up the pace in the second, recording 12 shots to the Bruins’ seven.

Following a scoreless Boston power play, Toronto’s first and only man advantage — stemming from a Charlie Coyle cross-check at 4:36 of the second — resulted in strong pressure. The Bruins completed the kill, with Tyler Bertuzzi putting a shot on goal just as the power play was coming to an end.

Another key Swayman save came on Connor Dewar’s short-handed breakaway with 8:35 left in the period.

–Field Level Media

NHL Bruins: “Not Again”

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TORONTO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Toronto’s William Nylander scored in the second and third periods as the Maple Leafs earned a 2-1 win over the visiting Boston Bruins on Thursday to even their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series at three victories apiece. Game 7 is set for Saturday night in Boston.

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Nylander broke the game’s long scoreless deadlock with 54.8 seconds left in the second before doubling Toronto’s lead on a breakaway with 2:13 to go in regulation. Morgan Rielly assisted on both goals.

Before netting his first goal, Nylander had been on a 13-game scoring drought dating back to the regular season.

Joseph Woll stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced in his second straight start for the Maple Leafs, coming within 0.1 seconds of a shutout. He recorded 12 saves in the second period alone.

Morgan Geekie scored just before the final buzzer and Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves for the Bruins, who will play a first-round Game 7 after surrendering a 3-1 series lead for the second straight season.

Last year, the Bruins, who posted the NHL’s best record in the regular season, were ousted by the Florida Panthers in the opening round of the postseason.

Toronto played a tight game in the first period of a second straight game, holding a 12-1 shot advantage. Boston’s lone shot came on a Jake DeBrusk short-handed try at the 11:38 mark.

The Bruins’ penalty kill remained strong in the early going, especially when it was tasked with combating David Pastrnak’s double-minor penalty for high-sticking just 1:10 into the second. The hosts managed only two shots during the four-minute sequence.

Nylander’s go-ahead goal gave Toronto its first second-intermission lead of the series.

After Nylander was not called for a hit from behind on Boston defenseman Mason Lohrei that was followed by an immediate icing, Nylander curled at the right point, moved back into the circle and fired a wrist shot that deflected off a body in front and past a screened Swayman.

With a 1-0 lead, Woll thwarted one of Boston’s most dangerous stretches just before the 7:00 mark of the third. After Brad Marchand could not handle Geekie’s pass through to the crease, the Toronto netminder withstood a flurry and covered up two Charlie Coyle chances from tight range.

Just over a minute after Swayman stopped a Max Domi breakaway, a chip-out and Matthew Knies feed led to Nylander jumping ahead for a backhand finish that doubled the Toronto lead with 2:13 left in regulation.

Geekie knocked home the Bruins’ goal in the crease in the final tenth of a second.

–Field Level Media

DeBrusk Opening For Bruins

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston’s Jake DeBrusk logged a three-point game to lead the Bruins to a 5-1 win over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first-round series on Saturday. DeBrusk factored into all three of Boston’s second-period goals, scoring twice in 2:32 after assisting Brandon Carlo.

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John Beecher, who was making his playoff debut, and Trent Frederic also scored, while Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy each had two assists for Boston, which won all four head-to-head meetings between the teams in the regular season.

Bruins’ goalkeeper Jeremy Swayman finished with 35 saves, stopping all 24 shots he faced over the first two periods.

David Kampf scored the lone goal and Ilya Samsonov made 19 saves on 23 shots for Toronto.

Toronto had a 36-24 shot advantage but went scoreless in three power plays while Boston went 2-for-5.

Shortly after Swayman made his second of two key early stops on a Nicholas Robertson point-blank rebound, Beecher buried Jesper Boqvist’s two-on-one pass to the left circle at 2:26 of the first period.

Boston could have extended its lead if Charlie McAvoy and Pavel Zacha hadn’t hit posts within a 2:05 span in the first period.

The Bruins began their second-period scoring onslaught at 5:47 as Carlo buried a drive from the top of the right circle off DeBrusk’s feed.

DeBrusk scored on the last two of Boston’s three power plays in the middle frame to increase the lead to 4-0, including a snapshot from the right circle at 15:02.

The third goal on Boston’s nine second-period shots occurred when DeBrusk redirected Brad Marchand’s centering pass off Samsonov and over the goal line.
The Maple Leafs broke the shutout quickly in the third. At 1:39, Kampf glided down the slot and buried Connor Dewar’s slick backhand feed.

Frederic’s empty-net goal with 2:08 left sealed the win.

Toronto forward William Nylander (undisclosed) was out of the lineup.

–Field Level Media