The Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics continued their first round playoff matchups on Wednesday night. The Bruins were in Toronto for a huge game four looking to tie the series, and the Celtics were at home looking to take a 2-0 series lead over the Pacers.
At Toronto- Brad Marchand had a goal and two assists, and David Pastrnak had a pair of goals as the Boston Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-4 at Scotiabank Arena in game four of a first round series. The best of seven is now tied 2-2.
Boston came out aggressively in what most called a must win game, getting goals from Charlie McAvoy and Marchand in the first 6:38 to take a 2-0 lead. Zach Hyman scored late in the first for Toronto, before Auston Matthews evened things 1:07 into the second. Pastrnak scored a pair though 1:35 apart in that second period to make it 4-2 Bruins, before Zdeno Chara made it 5-2 at 5:39 of the third. Matthews and Travis Dermott scored at 11:52 and 13:27 to make it a one goal game, but Joakim Nordstrom finished it off with an empty net goal with just a few seconds left.
McAvoy also had a two point night with a goal and an assist. Matthews had two goals and Morgan Rielly had two assists to lead the Leafs. Tuuka Rask stopped 38 shots in the win, while Frederik Andersen made 25 saves in the loss. Boston was 2-2 on the powerplay, while Toronto was 1-3. Game five heads back to Boston and TD Garden for a 7 pm faceoff Friday night.
At TD Garden in Boston- the Boston Celtics rallied from an 11 point deficit after three quarters to beat the Indiana Pacers 99-91 and take a 2-0 series lead in a best of seven first round series.
Indiana led by as many as eight in the first half, and Boston by as many as six and a Kyrie Irving floater near the end of the second quarter had the Celtics up 52-50 at halftime. The Pacers grabbed the lead back in the third and extended it to their largest at 70-58 when Darren Collison finished off a 10-0 run with a three pointer. Indiana led 79-68 after three. Boston finally took the lead back when Irving nailed a three pointer with 5:26 left to cap off a 16-3 Celtics run to make it 84-82. Indiana regained a lead twice on three pointers from Bogan Bogdanovic, the last one with 2:16 left to make it 91-89, the Pacers final points. After a Gordon Hayward layup off a nice feed from Jayson Tatum to give Boston a 94-91 lead, the Pacers Wesley Matthews threw away an inbounds pass with 12 seconds left, and Tatum converted a dunk and unconventional three point play on a pass from Al Horford to seal the win.
Irving finished with a game high 37 points, adding six rebounds, seven assists, and two blocks in the Boston win. Tatum had 26 points, four rebounds, and two assists. Hayward added 13 points and five rebounds. Bogdanovic had a big game for Indiana, with 23 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and four steals. Thaddeus Young had 15 points, six rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Collison and Tyreke Evans both had 13 points, with Evans adding seven rebounds. Game three with be at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Friday night at 8:30 pm.
