NHL Playoffs: Toronto Falls Short in Game 7 | 5/4/2024

Bruins lineup against the Maple Leafs:

Marchand – Coyle – DeBrusk

Zacha – Geekie – Pastrnak

van Riemsdyk – Frederic – Brazeau

Beecher – Boqvist – Maroon

Lohrei – McAvoy

Lindholm – Carlo

Wotherspoon – Shattenkirk

Swayman

Ullmark

Join the Bruins Benders Podcast LIVE after every Boston Bruins Playoff Game!

   After two entirely scoreless periods, the Bruins eliminated the Maple Leafs with an overtime game-winner by David Pastrnak. It had been a close game, both teams fought until the bitter end, but as well as an exciting end. The Bruins and Maple Leafs each had excellent seasons, both groups are full of extremely skilled players who can show they are some of the absolute best. However, Boston finally broke the curse to make it to round two.

   Late into the third, William Nylander opened the scoring at 10:59 off a pass from Auston Matthews after Tyler Bertuzzi had forced Brandon Carlo into a deep turnover, finding Nylander for a one-timer at the left hash marks to give Toronto a 1-0 lead. Hampus Lindholm answered back, tying it 1-1 with 9:38 remaining in the third period when he struck short-side, the shot going in off Ilya Samsonov’s right arm from the left face-off dot. Nylander just about won it for the Maple Leafs when there had been two seconds left in regulation when his centering pass deflected off Parker Wotherspoon’s skate, however, Jeremy Swayman kicked out his left pad to make a save.

   David Pastrnak sent the puck home past Ilya Samsonov with a backhand, going over Samsonov’s right pad after he had skated into Hampus Lindholm’s intentional dump-in and cutting across the crease for the 2-1 final.

David Pastrnak on his game-winner that took the Bruins into round two: “A huge moment, obviously. A lot of excitement. You could say a little relief as well. It was a tight-checking game, so it was nice to get it. Obviously the happiness from the group and sticking together the whole series was unbelievable, and couldn’t be more proud of ourselves.”

Brad Marchand on the victory and the push from the Maple Leafs: “There’s seven games for a reason. I mean, teams that get into the playoffs all deserve to be there and they all have a ton of pride. When you get down in a series, you push – they pushed very hard. They did a great job getting back in the series and made it tough. At the end of the day, you look back at it – if you lose, you catch a lot of heat, and if you win, then nobody talks about dropping a couple of games. It’s happened multiple times in the past where we’ve been up 3-1, and we’ve won the series and no one said a word about it… you talk about the win.”

Auston Matthews on being eliminated and the difference in this series: “I think that’s pretty self-explanatory – it’s obviously tough,” – “It was tight. It was really tight. Obviously, really proud of the way the guys battled back and hung in there being down 3-1. I don’t think there was any doubt that we could get to this point and climb our way back in the series… It was really hard to watch those two games, but just really proud of the guys to fight, battle back, and give ourselves a chance.”

John Tavares on the loss and what he’ll remember about the group and the fight they’ve shown: “Extremely difficult, especially with the type of team that we have and the type of character that’s in here, and just the belief in the locker room. I’m very proud of the group for the way we stuck with it and gave ourselves a chance,” – “You work towards this. All the ups and downs that you go through, and just sticking together. I think we just stuck together. Everyone buying into what we need to do, give ourselves the opportunity to fight back, and a great chance to win the series.”

Notes:

– Jeremy Swayman made a total of 30 saves for Boston, and Ilya Samsonov, who was in place of Joseph Woll due to an injury, made 29 saves for Toronto.

– In his return after missing both games 5 and 6, Auston Matthews recorded an assist.

– The Bruins have won seven straight playoff series against the Maple Leafs, and each of the past four have gone to Game 7.

– Last season, the Bruins played against the Florida Panthers in the first round… the Panthers won that series in seven games after the Bruins blew a 3-1 lead.