In Boston, the Toronto Maples Leafs fell behind the Bruins by a 2-0 count into the second period.
“It’s such a fun group to work with because we have a lot to get better at,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said, “but we find ways to win.”
The Maple Leafs rallied to tie the game and force extra time on Thursday.
“The guys worked hard,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “I really liked how we came back in the game. We had chances to really bury them in that second period, some point-blank opportunities, and we failed to convert on those. … You want to get two points every time you come into a building, but it’s a tough game tonight and we had to come away with one.”
The extra session solved nothing, and Charlie Coyle was credited with the deciding marker on penalties in a 3-2 win for the Bruins.
Jeremy Swayman made 33 saves in the Bruins win.
Boston improved to 9-0-1.
“We’ve obviously had some pretty good battles with that team,” said Boston’s Brad Marchand, the Boston captain. “They pushed back. They’re always a great team. Their power play is very dangerous and they kind of took control. … We did a good job regrouping in the third and came out with the win, so it’s good.”
The Bruins took a 1-0 lead in the fist period on a marker from Pavel Zacha at 18:51.
Jake DeBrusk scored 96 seconds into the middle frame for a 2-0 advantage to the Bruins, before the Maple Leafs rallied.
“Just getting to the hard areas,” DeBrusk said. “And I think that’s something that, you know, talking earlier about trying to build my own game, I guess. It’s something that I’ve been trying to really focus on, because I knew it wasn’t going to be a pretty one, just didn’t seem like it was coming at the right time, but I knew I had to get in the paint.”
Six minutes later, Mitchell Marner cut the deficit in half for the Maple Leafs.
Just 63 seconds later Toronto’s Auston Matthews tied it 2-2.
“It’s big. We wanted to respond,” Toronto’s Morgan Rielly said. “We didn’t start well in that period, but we knew we had to kind of step it up and respond a little bit, so obviously when those guys are going, and those guys score big goals for us, it’s big.”
The Maple Leafs dropped to 5-3-2.
Ilya Samsonov made 38 saves in the loss.
“Really hard game for us,” Samsonov said. “Sometimes [a] goalie [needs to make an] extra good save for [when] a team is pushing more.”
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