Even when the odds seem stacked against the Bruins, they can do no wrong these days.
A seriously undermanned B’s team traveled to Toronto and took it to the Maple Leafs for much of the night, notching a 5-3 victory on Saturday at Scotiabank Arena, their sixth straight victory.
Jeremy Swayman stopped 30 shots, including all 15 he faced in the third period, and the B’s got goals from five different players – with players from all four lines scoring – to improve their record to 10-7.
“That’s a huge win for us,” said Fraser Minten, whom coach Marco Sturm called his best player of the night. “We were missing our best defenseman (Charlie McAvoy) and Casey (Mittelstadt) has been really, really good for us, (John Beecher), too. Guys just came in and playing our system and giving us a chance to win. I thought we did a really good job.”
There was a hairy moment late in the game, however. After the B’s had done a good job of protecting a 4-3 lead most of the third period, William Nylander thought he tied the game with 4:35 left in regulation and lifted his arms in celebration. Most everyone else in the building thought it was in, too. But the ref waved it off and the replay did show Nylander’s shot hit the crossbar, then a post and out, and the B’s slim lead remained.
Then former Leaf prospect Minten gave the B’s their two-goal lead back with 3:02 left. Mark Kastelic stole the puck and fed Minten, who lifted it over Dennis Hildeby to make it 5-3 for his third of the year.
The Leafs still had life when Hampus Lindholm was called for holding with 2:05 left in the third but the B’s, who held a 39-33 shot advantage and were ale to keep Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies off the scoresheet, were able to hold off the Leafs and record the hard-earned win.
A challenging game for the B’s was going to be even more so with the players they had out of the lineup. McAvoy was back in Boston due to a family matter and Mittelstadt (lower body, timetable not yet available) did not make the trip. Beecher made the trip but was held out after leaving Thursday’s game with an upper body injury.
The McAvoy absence meant that Mason Lohrei, a scratch for the previous five games, got back in the lineup and Alex Steeves, called up from Providence, made his Bruin debut. They both made their presences felt in the first period that saw the teams trade a pair of goals each.
Lohrei was good all night on the breakouts, finished with two assists and was plus-2 in 14:49 while paired with Jonathan Aspirot.
“It’s tough (getting scratched). You always want to be in. But you just go day-by-day and get ready for your next opportunity,” said Lohrei. “It’s something I’ve been through before at every level, so I guess I know the recipe.”
All of Toronto’s goals were due to Bruin penalties. First, with Henri Jokiharju in the box, the Leafs took the first lead of the game when, with 10 seconds left on the kill, Max Domi found Nic Robertson for a redirection past Swayman at 3:12.
But just 38 seconds later, the B’s had not only tied the game but took a lead.
The first one came off the rush with Lohrei feeding Morgan Geekie on the left wing. Geekie cut to the middle of the ice, fanned on his first attempt but then beat Anthony Stolarz with a post-and-in shot just 18 seconds after Robertson’s goal.
They took the lead on the next shift 20 seconds later. Steeves kept the puck in at the blue line and went in on the forecheck. He seemed to discombobulate the Leafs’ defense. Phillipe Myers tried to take the puck out in front of his own net but Viktor Arvidsson simply swiped it off his blade and it got through Stolarz for Arvidsson’s fifth.
But they could not get out of period with a lead. Mikey Eyssimont took a holding penalty that the B’s technically killed off, but Eyssimont could not get back into the play in time to prevent a Leaf goal. Andrew Peeke left the slot to play Nic Roy behind the net but Roy was able to dish it out front to a wide-open Mattias Maccelli, who beat Swayman at 13:03.
The B’s had a strong first, outshooting the Leafs 13-6, but had settle the tie after the first 20 minutes.
But it didn’t take them long to take the lead when they got their first power play. Eyssimont stuffed the puck under Stolarz pads and raised his hands in celebration. The refs immediately waved it off, announcing that Eyssimont had pushed Stolarz pads into the net. A review was initiated by the league, however, and it was ruled that the puck was in before Eyssimont pushed the pad. It was the winger’s fourth of the season at 2:15.
The B’s pushed it to a two-goal lead at 4:41. Lindholm hit David Pastrnak with a nice cross-diagonal pass at the Toronto blue line. Pastrnak attacked Simon Benoit one-on-one and pretzeled the defenseman to move in alone on Stolarz. With not much more room to do anything more, Pastrnak just guided the puck toward the net and it slipped through Stolarz.
That was Pastrnak’s eighth of the year and 399th of his career. And that was the night for Stolarz, who was yanked by coach Craig Berube for Hildeby.
The Leafs had a chance to get back in the game late in the second. With top penalty killer Nikita Zadorov in the box for five minutes for fighting Bobby McMann after Zadorov blasted Scott Laughton on a brutal but clean check, Tanner Jeannot was called for an offensive zone slashing.
The B’s again killed off much of it until Nylander found John Tavares in the slot and Tavares snapped one over Swayman’s shoulder at at 16:51 to draw the Leafs within a goal at 4-3.
Hildeby, meanwhile, stopped all eight shots he faced in the second. He made 11 more in the third period, but Minten finally got one by him to give the B’s a little breathing room for the well-deserved win.
“I think it’s a testament to our system and that it works,” said Eyssimont. “Guys plugged in did a great job. We were missing some of our top players tonight and just tried to stick to our system. And we all bought in.”
The two sides meet again on Tuesday in Boston.
