Marcus Johansson scored what turned out to be the game winning goal in the first period, and goaltender Tuuka Rask made 32 saves Tuesday night to lead the Boston Bruins to a 5-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 of a First Round Eastern Conference NHL playoff series at TD Garden in Boston. The Bruins win the series 4-3 and now advance to the semifinals to face the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Bostons Joakim Nordstrom opened the scoring at 14:29 of the first after a Toronto turnover at their own blue line. The Bruins kept the play alive and the puck found Nordstrom who was parked to the left of Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen. Nordstrom let an odd angled shot go from right along the goal line, beating Andersen to make it 1-0. Johansson got his first playoff goal and the game winner just over three minutes later at 17:46. Karson Kuhlman ran Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner off the puck behind the Toronto net, and Johansson scooped up the loose puck and wheeled out front of the net and fired one past Andersen stick side to make it 2-0.
John Tavares shifted the momentum though into Torontos favor in the second. After a fierce forecheck and Boston turnover, Tavares picked up a loose puck and took two strides into the faceoff circle to the left of Rask, and fired a quick shot that beat the Boston netminder at 3:54 to cut the lead to just 2-1. After several more great Maple Leafs chances that were turned away by Rask, Brad Marchand got to a rebound in front of Andersen and tried to poke the puck in along the ice but Andersen came up with a huge save to keep it a one goal game by sticking out his left pad. Toronto had the games first powerplay just seconds later and came up empty, and Patrice Bergeron shot a puck wide on a 3 on 1 Bruins breakout with 7:02 left in the middle period. The game remained just a one goal advantage for the hosts headed to the third period.
An absolute great effort by the Bruins Sean Kuraly at 2:40 of the third really put the Leafs on their heels. Kuraly collected a loose puck near center ice, skated past defenders Ron Hainsey and Morgan Reilly to the faceoff dot to the right of Andersen, where he fired a laser just over the left shoulder of the goaltender underneath the left crossbar to make it 3-1. Toronto would press even harder to try to get back into the game from that point, but it was not to be as Rask stood tall. Andersen was pulled with just over three minutes remaining, and Charlie Coyle put it away with an empty netter at 17:26. Bergeron added another empty net goal with just one second remaining in a four goal win, which was much closer than the final score resembles.
Boston did not have any powerplay chances in the game, while Toronto was 0-2. Andersen finished with 27 saves in the loss. Nordstrom and Kuraly both added an assist each to go along with their goals for two point nights. This is the third time the Maple Leafs have lost in a winner take all game seven to the Bruins since 2013 (’13, ’18, ’19). Toronto doesn’t have a playoff victory over Boston since 1959. This is the 16th time the two teams have met in any playoff series, with the Bruins winning nine of those including now six series in a row. Boston and Columbus face off their second round series in Boston in game one Thursday night at 7 pm. The second seeded Bruins won the season series 2-1, and will have home ice as the Blue Jackets are the #8 East seed and upset the President Trophy winning #1 Tampa Bay Lightning in a shocking sweep in the first round.
Game 7 Box Score
TD Garden, Boston, Mass April 23, 2019
TOR (3-4) 0 1 0- 1
BOS (4-3) 2 0 3- 5
Shots on goal- TOR 33 BOS 32
PP- TOR 0-2 BOS 0-0
Hits- TOR 32 BOS 26
Blocks- TOR 4 BOS 17
