The Leafs took Games 2 and 5 in Boston and Game 6 in Toronto.Īfter Game 6, Boston coach Claude Julien had talked of his Jekyll and Hyde team this season. The Bruins won Game 1 in Boston and Games 3 and 4 (in OT) in Toronto. Back in Toronto, blue-and-white Leafs fans gathered at Maple Leaf Square. Inside the TD Garden, a sellout of 17,565 yellow-and-black faithful waved yellow towels. Matt Bartkowski, profiting from a Franson turnover, opened the scoring for Boston. The last Toronto defenceman to score two goals in a playoff game was Tomas Kaberle on April 14, 2003, against Philadelphia. Kadri and Kessel both had a goal and an assist while linemate James van Riemsdyk had two assists The opportunistic Leafs, in contrast, grew in stature and confidence.įranson, who had four goals in 45 games during the regular season, upped his playoff points total to three goals and three assists in seven games. It was as if they were more interested in getting even on the ice than the scoreboard.īoston began to looked tired and dispirited.
Upset at the officiating as the game wore on, the Boston players seemed preoccupied with a jab here, a punch there. The fourth-seeded Bruins, who dug their own hole by failing to finish off the Leafs in Games 5 and 6, started well but soon found themselves short on defencemen, discipline and inspiration. Rich Peverley had a chance to win it in the dying seconds but couldn't get good wood on it after a fat Reimer rebound. Then Bergeron beat Reimer with 51 seconds left as hulking Bruins captain Zdeno Chara screened the Toronto goalie. That sparked a late flurry by the Bruins and Lucic, stuffing in the puck from in close, scored with 1:22 remaining. Kadri then scored on a two-one-one, banging home Kessel's rebound at 5:29 to seemingly hammer another nail in the Boston coffin.Īt the other end, James Reimer seemed to have got into the Bruins' heads until Nathan Horton swept in a pass from Lucic, who swooped behind the net and then got the puck through traffic to his linemate to cut the lead to 4-2 at 9:18. Kessel's fourth goal of the post-season was helped by a Bruins giveaway. Leading 2-1 entering the third period, Phil Kessel added an insurance goal at 2:09, poking in the puck into a gaping goal after Nazem Kadri hit the post. The capacity crowd, which had been disgruntled most of the night, partied as it waited for an overtime period that never seemed in the cards. The Bruins will face the Rangers in the second round after New York shut out the Washington Capitals 5-0 in another Game 7 Monday. It's just an extremely disappointing loss," said a muted Dion Phaneuf. That 55 minutes (in Game 7) we threw everything we had at them. It marked the first time the Bruins have come back from a three-goal deficit in a playoff game since April 11, 1990, when they trailed the Hartford Whalers by a 5-2 score in the third period but went on to win 6-5. The Leafs led 4-1 midway through the third period when the Bruins started pulling rabbits out of their hat with three unanswered goals - the last two with the clock running out. It had looked like two early goals by defenceman Cody Franson had been enough to propel Toronto into the next round of the playoffs.
Two late goals in the space of 31 seconds by Boston's Milan Lucic and Bergeron, with goalie Tuukka Rask off for the extra attacker, shockingly tied the game up at 4-4. The Leafs could not clear the puck and the Bruins forward snapped home a shot. BOSTON - Patrice Bergeron scored at 6:05 of overtime to complete a miraculous Boston comeback as the Bruins rallied to oust the Toronto Maple Leafs from the playoffs with a nail-biting 5-4 victory in Game 7 Monday night.īergeron, with his second of the night, ended it as the Bruins blitzed the Toronto goal.
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