For 40 minutes Wednesday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs had some control over their own destiny.
But it was the final 20 minutes that sealed their fate, la forza del destino struck hard in the third period as the Boston Bruins scored four unanswered goals to win Game 7, 7-4.
“That was one of the most incredible games I’ve ever been a part of,” Brad Marchand said. “It was so back and forth, the intensity from the crowd and the emotion was a lot of fun to be a part of. But even after they got the lead a couple times … we knew that we 
have the resiliency in the room to continue to come back.”
Marchand had an empty goal with under a minute to go in the third.
Jake DeBrusk scored twice in the Bruins’ win.
“I don’t get out there 4-on-4 that much, so I just wanted to take it to the net and I kind of caught I think their defenseman off guard right away with just my speed,” DeBrusk said. “And then I tried to make a move and actually tried to raise it, and I didn’t even see it go in, I just heard the crowd go pretty nuts. It was a very special feeling, especially making it 5-4 at that point.”
Torey Krug, David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron, and Danton Heinen also scored for Boston.
“Yeah, it’s huge. It’s a momentum shift, for sure. You know we didn’t care how long it took, but eventually we were going to get it. It was a big play and we kept it going, foot on the gas pedal,” Krug said of his goal in the third period that tied the game, 4-4.
Tuukka Rask made 20 saves to get the win as the Bruins now face the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round.
Travis Dermott and Kasperi Kapanen had single markers for the Leafs and Patrick Marleau struck twice for Toronto.
“At the start of the series, if you’d have told me we were playing Boston and it’d be like this and we’d be right here going into the third period, I would’ve taken that all day long,” Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said.
[WATCH: All Maple Leafs vs. Bruins highlights | Complete Bruins vs. Maple Leafs series coverage]
Frederik Andersen made 29 saves in taking the loss.
“It [stinks],” Toronto center Nazem Kadri said. “But you have to take the positives out of it. We would have loved to have advanced, but I think for the future we’re going to be a team to be reckoned with and we will be back in this situation.”
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