William Nylander scored two goals, Joseph Woll made 22 saves, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday night. This win means there will be a seventh and final game in the series.
“We fought hard,” said Nylander, who missed the first three games due to an undisclosed issue. “And Woller was outstanding.”
Toronto managed to come back from a 3-1 series deficit. They avoided elimination with a 2-1 overtime victory in Boston on Tuesday. Now, the series returns to Boston for a deciding game on Saturday night. The winner will advance to face the Florida Panthers.
Morgan Rielly assisted on both of Nylander’s goals. Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves for the Bruins. However, Morgan Geekie scored with just 0.1 seconds remaining to spoil Woll’s shutout.
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery expects more from his team in the final game, and specifically mentioned forward David Pastrnak.
“Your top players need to shine at this time,” Montgomery said. “I believe the effort is there, but they need to make key plays in crucial moments. Marchand has done this in the series. Pasta needs to step up.”
Pastrnak mentioned, “I might have not shot enough. I should probably focus more on shooting. That usually helps me.” Toronto played without Auston Matthews for the second game in a row because he was sick and had to leave Game 4.
Nylander scored the first goal with 54.8 seconds left in the second period. He got the puck from Timothy Liljegren, moved away from his opponent, and shot. The puck hit Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy and went past Swayman.
Toronto’s coach Sheldon Keefe said, “This is what you expect from a player like him.” The goal led to big celebrations inside the Scotiabank Arena and outside in Maple Leaf Square.
Toronto scored again to make it 2-0 with 2:13 left in the game. Nylander got a pass from Matthew Knies, went alone, and scored with a backhand shot.
Marchand said, “They are very desperate, fighting to stay in the series. It’s always tough to win that game. But I think we played better tonight than last time. … If someone had told us at the start of the season that we would have a Game 7 at home against Toronto, we would have taken it.”
