In a game full of fights and penalties, the Boston Bruins won 4-1 against the Toronto Maple Leafs in their second meeting this week on Thursday, March 7th, at the TD Garden. Mitch Marner scored the lone goal for Toronto, his 25th goal of the season. Jeremy Swayman made 28 saves for Boston.
Maple Leafs lineup against the Bruins:
Knies – Matthews – Marner
Bertuzzi – Domi – Nylander
McMann – Tavares – Jarnkrok
Gregor – Kampf – Rees
Brodie – McCabe
Rielly – Lyubushkin
Benoit – Liljegren
Woll
Samsonov
Bruins lineup against the Maple Leafs:
Marchand – Coyle – DeBrusk
Heinen – Zacha – Pastrnak
van Riemsdyk – Geekie – Frederic
Lauko – Boqvist – Brazeau
Grzelcyk – McAvoy
Lohrei – Carlo
Wotherspoon – Shattenkirk
Swayman
Ullmark
At 14:23 of the first period, David Pastrnak put Boston in a 1-0 lead for his 39th goal of the season. During a 5-on-3 power play, Jake DeBrusk fed Pastrnak from the top of the left face-off circle at the goal line. Pastrnak’s goal had been the only one scored in the opening 20. Trent Frederic extended the Bruins’ lead to 2-0 at 15:44 of the second after he grabbed the puck from William Nylander at Boston’s blue line. He went five-hole on Joseph Woll, finishing off the breakaway. Not too long after Frederic’s goal, Mitch Marner cut it to 2-1 for his 25th. Marner received the puck from Timothy Liljegren after Danton Heinen had misplayed a pass to Brad Marchand… the puck was sent up to him, and he beat Jeremy Swayman at 12:04. Later on into the middle frame, Morgan Geekie went for the 3-1 lead for Boston on the power play when the puck was sent to him by Kevin Shattenkirk, who took the rebound of a slot shot from Pavel Zacha. Geekie scored his fifth goal in the past five games. Brandon Carlo scored his first goal following a 20-game goal drought to make it a 4-1 score before the end of the second period at the point. The score remained throughout the third period and Boston finished up this game with another 4-1 final.
Brad Marchand on the game and the Maple Leafs: “It was just an emotional game for both sides. They brought it as well, and it kind of started when you get crosschecked in the throat pretty early – that’s going to get anyone kind of riled up. From that point forward, it was an emotional game all the way through for both teams. They obviously saw Domi going after a couple of guys, and ‘Bert’ and ‘Spoons’ had a great fight. That was a playoff-type game and a fun one to be a part of.”
Jeremy Swayman on the Bruins’ victory with the 2011 Stanley Cup Champions there: “I think playing 60 minutes consistently, and that’s three games in a row for us, that’s really important for our group coming in at this point in the season – something that we could definitely build on as a momentum boost too,” – “Oh man, this has been one of the most special years to be a part of. Celebrating those guys, all the guys that have come before us, every other night for that matter – But especially this one. These guys still show face around the locker room throughout the season, it’s so special to see how much they bleed black and gold. To get a win in front of those guys tonight, there was no other option, so it was really fun to do that.”
Max Domi on the game: “In terms of the game, it was right there and it could have went the other way really easy. We had a chance right before that, and then obviously they capitalized. They’re a good team, they found a way to bear down and you got to give them credit. I look forward to playing them in the future for sure.”
Notes:
– Both Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk recorded two assists… Marchand’s two assists marked the 100th multi-assist game of his NHL career, becoming the ninth Boston Bruins player to reach this milestone.
– Joseph Woll made a total of 22 saves for Toronto… Mitch Marner’s goal on the power play was the 43rd of his NHL career and matches Gary Leeman for 26th on the franchise’s all-time list.
– Matthew Knies left the game in the first period, not returning, due to an apparent upper-body injury. However, there had been no updates on Knies from Sheldon Keefe.
– The Maple Leafs acquired defenseman Joel Edmundson in a trade with the Washington Capitals on Thursday. Washington received a third-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, as well as a fifth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
