The Bruins took Game 3 with a 4-2 win on Wednesday, April 24th at the Scotiabank Arena after the Maple Leafs took a 3-2 victory in Game 2. Brad Marchand scored two goals to tie Cam Neely for 55 career playoff goals, and Marchand recorded his 12th career game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs to pass Neely (11) for sole possession of the most in Bruins history. Once again, the Maple Leafs played without William Nylander for the third game straight due to an undisclosed injury, and Ilya Samsonov made a total of 30 saves for Toronto. Boston and Toronto meet again on Saturday at the Scotiabank Arena for Game 4.
Bruins lineup against the Maple Leafs:
Marchand – Coyle – Geekie
DeBrusk – Zacha – Pastrnak
van Riemsdyk – Frederic – Heinen
Beecher – Boqvist – Maroon
Lohrei – McAvoy
Lindholm – Carlo
Wotherspoon – Shattenkirk
Swayman
Ullmark
Maple Leafs lineup against the Bruins:
Bertuzzi – Matthews – Domi
Knies – Tavares – Marner
Robertson – Holmberg – Jarnkrok
Dewar – Kampf – Reaves
Rielly – Lyubushkin
Benoit – McCabe
Edmundson – Liljegren
Samsonov
Woll
After a scoreless opening frame, Matthew Knies put Toronto in a 1-0 lead at 6:50 of the second period. Joel Edmundson gave Mitch Marner a drop pass as he skated through the right circle, and then found Knies for a tap-in from the left post. Trent Frederic tied it 1-1 with 2:23 remaining in the middle frame from the left circle, beating Ilya Samsonov with a wrister short side.
Jake DeBrusk broke the tie to put Boston on top with his third goal on the power play of the playoffs early into the third at 18:53. He got a hold of a rebound at the top of the crease off Brad Marchand’s shot. At 8:35, Tyler Bertuzzi tied it back up 2-2 when a shot by Morgan Rielly from the top of the left circle deflected off Bertuzzi’s skate, and then it went in past Jeremy Swayman off the skate of Hampus Lindholm. Marchand scored the tie-breaker to make it 3-2 off a pass from Danton Heinen, who had won the puck behind the net prior and shot the puck over Ilya Samsonov’s glove at the right face-off dot. With only 36 seconds remaining in regulation, Marchand went for the 4-2 final with an empty-netter.
Brad Marchand on the Game 3 victory and Tyler Bertuzzi: “I thought it was good. We stuck with it all game. It wasn’t always pretty, and I said it the other day, they’re coming very hard to play. Very physical… but I thought we elevated to another level from where we’ve been at the first couple of games,” – “We always battled. We’re similar players. We got along great when we were teammates… When you’re in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and playing against each other, that all goes out the window.”
Jeremy Swayman on Brad Marchand’s performance and the chance to play: “That’s a leader. That’s our leader. He’s a captain through and through. He doesn’t take no for an answer. He leads by example. He’s the pinnacle of what a captain should be, and we’re so lucky to have him in this room,” – “Any time I get a chance to play, I’m going to do whatever I can to help this team win. Whether it’s back-to-back to every other game, I’m just really grateful every time I do get a chance, and that’s all I worry about.”
Mitch Marner on the game overall and what positives can be taken: “We’re getting our looks. I think we really are. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of entering (the zone). It’s just staying confident in it knowing we have the people in here to make it successful. We’re talking here on how to try to make it better. Try to just relieve the pressure a little better and support each other a little better,” – “I think we’ve done a good job of pressuring in our D-zone of pucks on walls, making it hard to get pucks off the wall for them… but obviously, we gave them one or two chances there in the slot and they made good on them. So, we just got to get back to closing that down, being tight with one another, and being out of our zone quickly.”
Notes:
– Jeremy Swayman made a total of 28 saves for Boston.
– Brad Marchand not only scored two goals for the Bruins, he also recorded an assist.
– The Bruins lead the best-of-7 series 2-1.
– Mitch Marner recorded an assist, making it his 38th assist in playoffs. He tied Red Kelly and Mats Sundin for third in Maple Leafs history.
– The Maple Leafs were 0-for-5 on the power play and are 1-11 in the series. The Bruins went 2-for-3.
