In Boston Thursday night, the Bruins shook off some late season listlessness and dusted off the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-1.
Tuukka Rask made 26 saves to stifle the Leafs’ offense after the first period.
“We kind of knew that we needed a little reset, we needed a couple days of rest and we had to bring it for the playoffs,” Bruins forward David Backes said. “Now, it’s throw it all into the game. … And I think as a collective unit, we all just looked at each other and said, ‘It’s time to go out there and do our thing and not be distracted by anything.’ It was a pretty solid effort.”
Three of the Bruins’ goals came off the power play.
“We were outscored 3-0 on special teams, three on the [penalty kill]. That’s most likely never going to get it done,” Toronto’s Ron Hainsey said. “Not nearly enough offensive-zone time for us. It felt like we spent the vast majority of the game on our half of the ice. We weren’t able to get any long, sustained pushes in their end.”
Zach Hyman had the lone goal for the Leafs.
Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, David Krejci, Backes, and Sean Kuraly scored for the Bruins.
“We talked about the special teams being key in this series, we know they have a good power play,” the Bruins’ Patrice Bergeron said. “Sure, so do we. But at the same time, we need to make sure that we do the job and I’m sure they’re going to make some adjustments. We need to make sure that we keep things simple like we did tonight.”
[WATCH: All Maple Leafs vs. Bruins highlights | Complete Bruins vs. Maple Leafs series coverage]
Frederik Andersen made 35 saves in taking the loss.
“I think we’re a pretty good team that’s won lots of games, and so, to me, when you get beat you just get regrouped,” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said. “The beauty about this is we’ve got a day to solve our problems, and we can feel sorry for ourselves if we want here tonight, but that’s a waste of time and energy. Let’s just get back to the hotel, get a meal, get regrouped, have a good practice tomorrow and come back at it.”
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