In Toronto, Pavel Zacha scored twice in the third period to end any hopes the Maple Leafs would chase down the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night. 
The Leafs had closed to within 3-2 of the Bruins on a goal from Calle Jarnkrok, but Zacha scored 30 seconds after that goal for a 4-2 lead, and again at 12:1- for the 5-2 final score.
“In the first half [of the game], he was unbelievable,” Zacha said. “He got us in the game, he was there, and then we took over a bit and had a couple of goals, but he does that almost every game for us the whole season. He’s a great goalie to have. Both goalies we have (Ullmark, Jeremy Swayman) are unbelievable, so that helps a lot when we have a bit lower period and give up that many chances. They keep us in the game until we can push and go forward.”
The win for Boston stopped their three-game schneid.
Linus Ullmark made 33 saves in the Boston win.
“I just thought that was the best team effort we’ve had in a while,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “… I don’t think relief was the right word, but it was about us getting back to our standard and team identity. I saw it [Tuesday] in practice. I hadn’t seen us practice with that kind of pace and purpose in a while, and especially the competitive fire that was there. I expected us to be good, and that’s a really good hockey team that we were able to beat on the road today.”
The Bruins moved to 39-7-5.
“I told them congrats on a great first half,” Montgomery said. “It’s been fun, but I said we have to get better and I know we will get better because of the professionalism and the work ethic that is in that locker room.”
Mitchell Marner also scored for the Maple Leafs.
Toronto dropped to 31-13-8.
“We take into the break that we know we’re a good team and we’re in a really good spot,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “This is a tough way to go into the break, but [it] maybe good for us in the sense that we’ve had a really good season here to this point. We need a break, everybody needs a break at this point in time, but then we come back and we can be inspired by the season we’ve had to date yet motivated by the fact that we have a ways to go here.”
In the middle frame, the Bruins took a 1-0 lead on a shorthanded goal from Derek Forbort , Marner tied it, 1-1, on power play strike.
“That’s obviously not what you want but I thought we were with them there the whole way,” Marner said. “In the third, I don’t know if I’d call it cheating, but we’re just pushing hard and gave up a couple odd-man chances and it cost us.”
Brandon Carlo gave Boston the lead, 2-1, at 12:35 of the second.
“Those are always nice for me since I’m not a huge goal scorer, but it definitely adds a little bit of a boost of confidence throughout that game and headed into the break,” Carlo said. “It’ll be nice to take a mental break and breather, so that one felt nice and this was the way we wanted to go out.”
Early in the third period, A.J. Greer scored to give the Bruins a 3-1 advantage.
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Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves in the Toronto loss.
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