In a potential elimination game without Toronto’s star, Auston Matthews, the Maple Leafs fought until the very end to secure a 2-1 overtime victory on Tuesday and will move on to Game 6 in Toronto on Thursday, May 2nd. Matthews originally missed the third period in Toronto’s 3-1 loss previously and missed this game both due to illness. Both Joseph Woll and Jeremy Swayman put on quite a performance, each making huge saves for their teams. Trent Frederic scored the lone goal for Boston.
Maple Leafs lineup against the Bruins:
Bertuzzi – Domi – Marner
Knies – Tavares – Nylander
Robertson – Holmberg – Jarnkrok
Dewar – Kampf – Reaves
Rielly – Lyubushkin
Benoit – McCabe
Edmundson – Liljegren
Woll
Samsonov
Bruins lineup against the Maple Leafs:
Marchand – Coyle – Geekie
DeBrusk – Zacha – Pastrnak
van Riemsdyk – Frederic – Heinen
Maroon – Boqvist – Brazeau
Lohrei – McAvoy
Lindholm – Carlo
Grzelcyk – Wotherspoon
Swayman
Ullmark
Jake McCabe opened the scoring to give the Maple Leafs a rare lead through this series at 14:27 of the first period. He put one past Jeremy Swayman from the point through traffic. With 6:06 remaining in the frame, Trent Frederic tied it to 1-1 when the puck fell to him in front due to Jesper Boqvist’s forecheck from behind the net causing the puck to fall in front.
The Maple Leafs and Bruins went through the next 20 minutes of play without a goal, stuck in the 1-1 tie, and this stayed the same in the third. However, Frederic had another great chance, nearly putting Boston on top before the end of regulation when he had a net-front chance and Joseph Woll held on strong with his outstretched right pad as Frederic went backhand to forehand.
There had been another opportunity to break the tie in the third when the puck had been taken away from Charlie Coyle by Max Domi, creating a 2-on-1 rush with Tyler Bertuzzi. Jeremy Swayman grabbed up Bertuzzi’s one-timer from the right circle to keep the game in a tie.
Toronto and Boston headed into overtime for extra time to finally wrap it up. After Jeremy Swayman had stopped a driving John Tavares from the right post, Matthew Knies put home a rebound at the edge of the crease to keep the Maple Leafs in for Game 6.
Matthew Knies on his game-winner and the way he felt when it had gone in: “It was a pretty incredible play by ‘Johnny’ there to drive the net. To make that play happen, it all started with him and then I kind of just found my stick. I was fortunate to bury that one and send us back home,” – “Gosh, you black out a little bit. I was just so excited and so happy. I think what brought me more joy was to see the faces of my teammates, and how much they wanted to keep playing and keep moving on.”
Joseph Woll on starting and his emotions throughout, and coming in last year in elimination game: “I was obviously very happy to get in the net, and happy that the coaches and team have faith in me. It’s a great win for us, obviously, and we’re excited to go back to home ice,” – “That experience last year definitely helped and I felt more comfortable coming into the situation… Like Knies said, it’s the same mindset for our group and it’s every year, the same mindset, I think. Each time you get a little more experience and you learn from your mistakes. I think this time around, I’m really confident with our group.”
Jeremy Swayman on what they learn as a group from the loss and the motivation for the next game: “We’re focused on the next game and we know what we have in this room as a collective group. All we care about is the next game,” – “I think we saw an opportunity that we missed and we’re not going to let it happen again. So, the motivation is completely internal and it’s contagious in this locker room. We’ll be a different team come Thursday.”
Brad Marchand on the game overall: “They were just better. They came and they were willing to leave it all on the line tonight. We needed to be better than we were. It’s that simple. They were prepared to play and start the game, and we weren’t. Unfortunately, we never really kind of got it together throughout the game. There were a lot of opportunities, but, on to the next one.”
Notes:
– Joseph Woll made 27 saves for Toronto, and Jeremy Swayman made 31 saves for Boston.
This had been Woll’s second win in a potential series elimination game, tying Gord McRae, Felix Potvin, and John Ross Roach for the most by a rookie goaltender in Maple Leafs history. Last season in Game 4 against the Florida Panthers, Woll and the Leafs won 2-1.
– The Maple Leafs outshot the Bruins 11-2 in the first period despite being in a 1-1 tie entering the middle frame.
– Matthew Knies became the sixth-youngest player in team history to score a playoff overtime goal.
– In his NHL playoff debut, Justin Brazeau had five hits and played 10:03.
