In Toronto, Auston Matthews scored his scored goal of the for the Maple Leafs with six seconds left on the game clock in the third period to tie the Boston Bruins, 3-3, and force extra time.
In the extra session, Brad Marchand hit the game-winner with eight seconds left in the session for a 4-3 win to the visitors.
“Marchand created an amazing turnover and I had a quick look if he was coming,” Boston’s David Pastrnak said. “It looked like he didn’t want to go, so I tried a breakaway and didn’t get it in. I saw him stop at the net, so I just tried to get it as quick as possible to him. A great handle by him, so I’m so happy for him, a big goal for him.
“I knew the goalie was coming back (into the net), so I honestly just shot it at Marchand and hoped he was going to handle it, which he did.”
Linus Ullmark made 37 saves in the Boston win.
“This was the best game we’ve played in a while, maybe two weeks,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. “Sometimes you need to face some hard times to realize it’s not always going to come easy. How hard we were to play against, time and space, protecting the middle of the ice and I loved [Pastrnak] tonight.”
The Bruins moved to 16-4-3.
Pastrnak scored midway through the first period to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
The Bruins’ Kevin Shattenkirk hit for a goal at 7:31 of the middle frame for a 2-0 advantage to Boston.
“[It felt] great,” Shattenkirk said of his fist goal with the Bruins. “I think that’s kind of something everyone is probably waiting to do when they join a new team. To contribute, for me that’s part of my game, so I’m happy it was a meaningful goal tonight and we were obviously able to stick it out and win in overtime.”
The Maple Leafs dropped to 12-6-4.
Matthews scored his first of the night at 12:06 to trim the deficit to 2-1 for the Maple Leafs.
“I thought we were just hunting pucks really well, turning them over, attacking,” Matthews said. “I thought we had more of an attack mentality tonight instead of trying to make the extra play and I think it paid off. We had a lot of really good shifts.”
The Leafs’ Max Domi knotted it, 2-2, at 2:11 of the third period..
“It feels good to contribute, but that [stuff] is irrelevant when you don’t win,” Domi said. “Obviously you want to come away with two points there, but the boys battled back and showed a lot of character against a real good team, a well-coached team. They’re a heck of a hockey club for a reason. A good test, but I think our group showed what we are capable of, and if we find a way to string 60 minutes together like that, we’ll be a tough team to beat as well.”
Boston reclaimed the lead on a marker form Trent Frederic at 13:10Â for a 3-2 advantage.
Joseph Woll made 33 saves in the loss.
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