Simple formula keeps season alive past Round 1
“Simple, boring hockey is very effective. but you know, when you’re getting a lot of effective offensive chances, you lose your patience at times — we talked about not losing our patience, being above[the puck] being behind, being physical . . . just being relentless with that kind of attitude.”
Maple leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly had the last swipe at Pastrnak, but his reach wasn’t long enough, and the simple, straight-ahead, hockey 101 play helped the bruins escape what would have been an agonizing summer had they lost again in Round 1 after holding a 3-1 series lead.
Now it’s on to Sunrise, fla., a flight the bruins will make Sunday ahead of Monday night’s Game 1 against the Panthers. florida has been waiting since clinching its series vs. the lightning last Monday. the Panthers are rested. but the bruins, dead on doublerunners in Games 5-6 against toronto, suddenly look revved up.
“This,” Montgomery said, “is going to pay dividends for a long time for all the players in [the dressing room].”
the only lead time of the night belonged to the Maple leafs, who went ahead at 9:01 of the third period on a william Nylander strike. Nylander potted his third of the series on a play that began with brandon Carlo falling down (possible toe pick) and losing the puck near the corner to goalie Jeremy Swayman’s left.
Auston Matthews promptly gained control of the puck and centered across. Nylander promptly made the pot before Swayman could cover the left post.
Tough break for Carlo, the gentle giant playing in his 66th playoff game. he had played a near-flawless six-plus games, among the top boston performers in the series, and his miscue nearly spelled doom.
Only 81 second later, however, lindholm delivered the equalizer with a wrister from the left faceoff dot. Calmly in possession of the puck in the circle, lindholm scored his first playoff goal in a bruins uniform, dotting the top left corner with a sharp wrister. It was his team-high fifth shot of regulation.
The bruins came out sharp, focused, and shot ready — the polar opposite of their weak-tea efforts in Games 5-6. they didn’t score in the opening 20:00, but they rolled up an 11-9 edge in shots, a fair reflection of how they carried play and owned zone time.
The crowd was into it, right from the hop, when beloved ex-bruins captain Patrice bergeron acted as banner captain, whipping the tD Garden faithful into a frenzy even prior to the 8:20 p.m. puck drop. the longtime fan favorite looked great, like a guy who could step in and do some good damage.
After landing only two shots in the opening period of Game 5, then only one in the opening frame of Game 6, the bruins put their first offering on Ilya Samsonov at 1:59. James van Riemsdyk landed it with a heavy charge to the net — a play absent the boston attack of late — and linemate Justin brazeau just missed converting the reline bound.
Pastrnak, called out by coach Jim Montgomery after the Game 6 loss in toronto, was looking to do something extra at 3:45 when he tried to dart into the slot from the rear wall. his bold effort was met by stronger response from 6-foot-5-inch defenseman Joel edmundson, who buried Pasta with a high clean check right at the goal line.
It’s not a play normally attempted by Pastrnak, who does his best work (i.e. scoring) from the 15-25 foot range. Instead,
he was attempting a heavy play, and he paid the price. honorable. Probably a reaction to his coach’s challenging words. but not a play he can be expected to make with any regularity, due to the risk of getting broken in half.
Matthews, who sat out Games 5-6 with an undisclosed injury, finally made it back to the Maple leafs lineup. It was somewhat of a surprise because he had a very limited morning-of-game skate, leading to speculation that he would not play. he was in uniform, pivoting a that had Pontus holmberg and Calle Jarnkrok at his wings, but his play often looked slow, tired, and strained, especially in the 5:23 of ice time he logged in the first period.
Charlie McAvoy landed two hits in the opening period. he grew increasingly intent on taking the body over the seven games. In Game 6, CMac landed a career-high (regular season and playoffs) 11 hits, the most hits a player has delivered this postseason.
The bruins want/need McAvoy to shoot more . . . and shoot even more. It could be that more hitting also will lead to more shooting. If he’s going to develop as a true franchise defenseman (this is a recording), he’ll have to be more of a shooter . . . and a scorer . . . and overall offensive presence.
The bruins’ offensive mojo began to dissipate in the middle period, when they were outshot, 12-7. the Maple leafs, though unable to put a puck behind Swayman, had a few excellent chances in the second, including a dangerous break-in by Connor Dewar with a shorthanded bid near the 11:30 mark. Soon after, with 7:43 to go before the break, a hard-charging Matthew Knies came barreling down the middle after slipping behind Kevin Shattenkirk. the veteran bruins defenseman was able to disrupt the play from behind, sending Knies bowling into Swayman, upending the goalie and wiping out the net.
No one was scoring, but toronto generated the greater threats.