Toronto Maple Leafs center Nazem Kadri was suspended by the NHL prior to Monday nights game three between Toronto and Boston in a first round playoff series. Kadri was suspended for the remainder of the series for a crosscheck to the head area of Bruins winger Jake Debrusk in Bostons game two 4-1 win. That didn’t seem to bother the home Leafs. Toronto buzzed the Boston net after a scoreless first period by scoring three second period goals including what turned out to be the game winner by Andreas Johnsson, and then hung on for a 3-2 win to take a 2-1 series lead in the best of seven at ScotiaBank Arena in Toronto.
Toronto scored the games first goal when Trevor Moore poked home a loose puck to the left of Boston goalie Tuuka Rask after a Morgan Rielly shot from the left half wall to make it 1-0 at 2:38 of the second. The Bruins David Krejci responded though just 53 seconds later, scoring from the slot after a Debrusk shot from the right side along the goal line to make it 1-1. The Leafs then scored a pair of powerplay goals exactly seven minutes apart to build a two goal lead. Auston Matthews scored on a one timer off a Johnsson feed at 10:12, and then Johnsson scored his first career playoff goal at 17:12 when he took a John Tavares behind the back pass from behind the net and backhanded a shot that beat Rask in the slot to make it 3-1. Boston got a big goal late in the period at 19:22 when Charlie Coyle while on the powerplay slapped one past the blocker side of Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen to cut it to just a one goal deficit again. The Bruins pushed hard for the equalizer in the third, nearly getting it when a loose puck popped out in front of Andersen with less than three minutes left with Krejci all alone, who deked right and went left with a backhander, but the goalie sprawled out for a huge save to preserve the one goal lead. Boston pulled Rask in the final 1:26 and had great zone attack time but couldn’t get one past Andersen.
Andersen stopped 34 of 36 shots in the Leafs win, while Rask stopped 31 in the loss. Toronto was 2-3 on the powerplay, while Boston was 1-3. Johnsson and Matthews each had a goal and an assist for two point nights for the Maple Leafs. Game four in Toronto is Wednesday night at 7 pm.
