Bruins Outlast Maple Leafs 2-1 in a Shootout for Their Fifth Straight Victory

The Bruins closed out their final regular season game of 2014-15 at TD Garden with a frustrating but ultimately rewarding 2-1 shootout win over the Maple Leafs. Boston (41-25-13) set a season-high for shots on goal (50) but couldn't find a way to beat a mediocre goaltender like James Reimer (49 saves). Haha you might remember him from Game 7 of the Eastern Conference opening round series in 2013. Luckily, Toronto (29-43-7) is so bad (and tanking so hard) that the B's found a way to win a shootout (improving their record to a pathetic 4-9 this season).

After handing out their traditional year-end awards before the game, Boston came out hard in the first period and outshot Toronto 19-6. They couldn't find the back of the net but Patrice Bergeron opened the scoring just 19 seconds into the second. Reimer left a rare rebound on Brad Marchand's shot and Bergy was there for his 22nd goal of the season (tying Marchand for the team lead). David Krejci had the second assist on Boston's lone tally.

UNH product James van Riemsdyk, who seems to always kill the Bruins, tied it at 14:31 in the second period. A shot from the point deflected off Tuukka Rask (27 saves) and JVR was on the doorstep to poke it over the line. That was his team-leading 26th goal of the season and it was assisted by Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner.

Neither power-play couldn't generate anything: Boston's was 0-for-3 and Toronto's was 0-for-2. The Bruins had another dominant frame in the third (outshooting the Leafs 16-8) but they had nothing to show for it. Each team had three shots on goal in overtime which is typically when Boston plays well (9-4 this season; Toronto is 3-3).

In the shootout, Tyler Bozak and Krejci were stopped in the first round. Rask made the save on JVR to start the second round and Bergeron potted the only goal. Nazem Kadri was Toronto's final shooter and he couldn't find a way to get the puck past Rask.

At the moment, Boston is still in eighth-place in the Eastern Conference but they have 95 points-the same as the Penguins and Red Wings. The difference is that those clubs have a game in hand on the Bruins. Ottawa won 4-3 in overtime tonight vs. Washington (43-25-11) to remain three points back of the Bruins. By the time that the B's take the ice again on Wednesday (8, NBCSN) in DC, things will look much different since the Senators are in Toronto tomorrow night and then host Pittsburgh on Tuesday. To give you even more of an ice cream headache, the Bruins are only three points behind the Islanders and two behind the Capitals.

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Bruins Return Home For 1 Night Only, Poop The Bed vs. Maple Leafs In a 4-3 Loss

The Bruins (29-15-2) had been gone for over a week for a 1-2 road trip in California and they came home to face the reeling Maple Leafs (23-20-5) at TD Garden. Naturally, Toronto rallied from two early deficits to win 4-3. Boston had beaten them 3-1 and 5-2 earlier this season with the finale set for April 3 in Toronto.

Every writer will mention it so let me be the millionth to talk about how crappy Boston's special teams were. The Bruins were 0-for-3 on the power play and allowed two goals on Toronto's five man advantages.

The first period harkened back to the glory days of the NHL-70s and 80s-when there was an abundance of goals and even a fight between Shawn Thornton and Frazer McLaren. It was Thornton's first brawl since he got back on Saturday in San Jose. Brad Marchand opened the barrage on Jonathan Bernier (38 saves) with a goal at 3:38 off a rebound. Reilly Smith and Patrice Bergeron assisted on Marchand's 11th of the season.

Tyler Bozak answered at 5:52 with a similar goal, off of Tuukka Rask's (22 saves) juicy rebound. Bozak was assisted by Milan Lucic's rag doll-Carl Gunnarssson and Phil Kessel (3 assists). Boston regained the lead at 10:48 after Bergeron's wraparound fooled Bernier and Toronto's defensemen. His 11th goal of the season was assisted by Zdeno Chara and Marchand.

Bozak potted his second goal at 12:47 of the first, this time on the power play to tie it at two. James van Riemsdyk and Kessel assisted on Bozak's goal which came after a cross ice feed left Rask out of position.

Little did we know that Toronto would rattle off two more goals before Boston responded (too late). Jake Gardiner's wrist shot on the power play made it 3-2 at 7:09. JVR got a lucky break a minute into the third when Johnny Boychuk sent him to the moon with a clean but filthy hit. He got hit so hard that one of the gloves flew into the crowd. He got the last laugh though as his routine wrist shot got by Rask a minute into the third period.

The Bruins' fourth line brought its typical energy and they were rewarded with a goal when Gregory Campbell roofed a backhander past Bernier at 9:35. Campbell had hit the post earlier on the same shift so the goal seemed like a gift from the hockey gods. It was his third goal of the season, assisted by Daniel Paille.

Boston outshot Toronto 41-26 for the game so they should have done more with all their scoring chances. They don't have much time to fix things as they visit Tyler Seguin, Rich Peverley and the Stars (21-18-7, 5th in Central Division) on Thursday (8:30, NESN).

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Bruins Completely Ruin Toronto's First Home Playoff Game In 9 Years, Winning Game 3 5-2

There is no better way to troll Canada than to have an American NHL team go up there and win an important game. In that way, Boston made the U.S. proud tonight as they won 5-2 in Toronto's Air Canada Centre in Game 3, giving the B's a 2-1 series lead.

The Bruins never trailed as they scored the first goal then jumped ahead 4-1 in the second period before letting Tuukka Rask (career-high 45 saves) close it out in the third period when the Maple Leafs bombarded them with shots on goal (18-6).

Speaking of Rask, Toronto goaltender James Reimer (33 saves) is no Rask. Boston's first goal set the tone for him as he allowed Adam McQuaid to score his first career playoff goal on a slap shot from just inside the blue line at 13:42 of the first period. Milan Lucic (3 assists) and David Krejci (1 goal, 2 assists) assisted on the goal that never should have happened. I don't know how Reimer didn't stop it, he wasn't really screened and it wasn't deflected.

Toronto's weak defense was the issue on Boston's second goal as Jaromir Jagr stripped Ryan O'Byrne behind Reimer's net then fed Rich Peverley for a one-timer at 5:57 of the second period. Boston's much-maligned third line cashed in its first goal (and points) of the series.

The Maple Leafs solved Rask with a power-play goal from Jake Gardiner at 13:45 of the second period after the B's failed to clear the puck out of the slot. The good news was that Boston responded like a top team should. Nathan Horton scored a goal in his third straight game, finishing off a one-timer from Lucic that ended up lodged on the camera inside the goal. Krejci had the second assist at 14:35, only 50 seconds after Gardiner's strike.

If that goal by the B's didn't take all the energy out of the building, the next one certainly did as Daniel Paille took the puck away from Phil Kessel on a power play and went in alone for a sweet backhander. That shorthanded goal gave Boston the 4-1 lead at 16:37 that they would never relinquish.

Kessel sort of atoned for his gaffe by scoring a power-play goal 47 seconds into the third period on a rebound. That's as close as the Maple Leafs would get though and Krejci sent the nice people of Toronto streaming for the exits with an empty-netter with 1:17 left in the game.

If Game 1 taught us anything, it's that we can't get too cocky even after a great victory by the Black and Gold. They need to show that they can put efforts like this together consistently, not sporadically. Game 4 on Wednesday (7 p.m., NESN) is a wonderful chance to really take control of this series and put Toronto on the brink of elimination.

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