“It feels good coming to Toronto, it is always not easy especially when you are missing a few guys too,” Boston coach Marco Sturm said. “But we kind of stuck with our game and just like I told the guys, for me it was a very impressive win. The way we played 5-on-5, the way we finished the game, it was great to see.”
Mason Lohrei, who had been a healthy scratch the past five games, had two assists and Jeremy Swayman made 30 saves for the Bruins (10-7-0). Boston was without defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who remained in Boston to attend to a family matter, which led to Lohrei’s return.
“Getting ready for the game, I was pretty excited just to be back and playing again,” Lohrei said. “You are always kind of part of the group so this winning streak has been fun no matter what. It’s tough, obviously you want to be in but just go day by day and just get ready for your next opportunity. It’s something I’ve been through before at every level so I guess I know the recipe.”
John Tavares, Matias Maccelli and Nicholas Robertson scored for the Maple Leafs (8-6-1), who had won three in a row and five of their past six. Morgan Rielly had two assists. Anthony Stolarz was pulled after allowing four goals on 19 shots. Dennis Hildeby, who was recalled from Toronto of the American Hockey League on Saturday, made 19 saves in relief.
“I thought three of the goals we ended up bringing the puck back in our zone, we didn’t need to, we could have just got it out but they ended up scoring on three of them,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “I thought we didn’t execute well enough with the puck early on. I think we all got to be better including the goalie… We didn’t execute well enough and for me, we caused all those goals ourselves.”
Michael Eyssimont put the Bruins up 3-2 at 2:15 of the second period when he jammed a shot under Stolarz’s right pad from the side of the net on the power play.
David Pastrnak made it 4-2 at 4:41 when he deked Simon Benoit at the right face-off dot to get in alone and jammed a shot under Stolarz’s left pad.
Tavares cut it to 4-3 at 16:51 on the power play when he took a pass from William Nylander and shot high blocker from the slot.
About the Author
