TORONTO – The Bruins looked poised to take a win out of Toronto in a big home-and-home series vs. the Maple Leafs, but instead they found a way to lose in overtime.
A James van Riemsdyk goal in the closing minutes of the third period pushed it to overtime, and then Patrick Marleau tipped home a Jake Gardiner feed little over a minute into OT for the 3-2 win for Toronto over the B’s at the Air Canada Centre.
David Pastrnak scored in the closing minutes of the third period on a gritty play in front on the man advantage to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead, but then the B’s buckled with the last-minute score allowed to James van Riemsdyk camped in front of the net.
The Bruins had been struggling on the power play headed into Friday night’s game, and had been stressing the need to up their work ethic around the net. So that’s exactly what happened as Jordan Szwarz jammed away at a couple of pucks in front of the net before Pastrnak crashed and slammed home the loose puck for his 10th goal of the season.
The Bruins finally scored midway through the second period on a play that you’ve seen dozens of times before. Brad Marchand wheeled through the zone with the puck and fed Patrice Bergeron in the face-off circle for a shot that was locked and ready to go.
Bergeron sizzled it inside the far post for his fourth goal of the season, and once again Boston’s dynamic duo came through for them offensively. Unfortunately, the Bruins were whistled for four penalties during the first couple of period and the last one ended up doing some damage to the Black and Gold. After Anton Khudobin was able to stop a couple of shots in front, JVR finally broke through after battling with Zdeno Chara and Brandon Carlo in front of the net.
The Bruins again traded goals in the third period to set things up for a finish in the extra session.
