Brad Marchand scored a goal to break a tie in the middle of the third period, helping the Boston Bruins defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 on Wednesday night, giving them a 2-1 lead in the first-round playoff series.
After Todd Bertuzzi tied the game for Toronto with 8:35 left, Marchard quickly put the Bruins back in front just 28 seconds later. He received a pass from Danton Heinen and shot the puck past goalie Ilya Samsonov’s ear. Marchand also scored an empty-net goal and provided an assist.
“We stuck with it all game,” Marchand said. “We increased to another level.” The Maple Leafs were unhappy with Marchand’s behavior during the game.
“The gamesmanship and everything, it’s world-class,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said about Marchand. “He’s been in the league long enough … he gets calls. It’s unbelievable how it goes. We’ve got to play through that.”
Marchand and Bertuzzi got into a tangle in the second period, with Toronto leading 1-0. Despite calls from the crowd for a penalty, the referees took no action before Trent Frederic scored the tying goal seconds later.
“I don’t think there’s another player in this series that gets away with taking out Bertuzzi’s legs the way that he does,” Keefe said. “It’s an art, and he’s elite at it. We have to manage our way through that.”
Jake DeBrusk also scored for Boston, and Jeremy Swayman made 28 saves. Swayman made 35 saves in Boston’s 5-1 victory in Game 1 before being replaced by Linus Ullmark in Toronto’s 3-2 victory in Game 2.
Matthew Knies also scored for Toronto, and Samsonov made 30 saves. Toronto struggled on the power play, going 0 for 5, making them 1 for 11 in the series.
“At times we played well,” Keefe said. “Not well enough to get the win.” Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena.
