In Game 4, the Bruins defeat the Maple Leafs, almost winning the series.
Marchand scores and provides an assist in the win; Swayman stops 24 shots; Matthews departs for Toronto.
TORONTO — At Scotiabank Arena on Saturday, in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round, the Boston Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 thanks to goals and assists from Brad Marchand.
3-1 in the best-of-7 series, the Bruins are ahead. Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET (ESPN, NESN, SNP, SNO, SNE, TVAS, CBC) is Game 5 at Boston.
At 8:20 in the second period, Marchand made it 2-0 on a power play to break Cam Neely’s record for the most Stanley Cup Playoff goals scored by a Bruins player. Charlie McAvoy’s pass to him was one-timed below the right face-off dot.
The Boston forward David Pastrnak observed, “He was outstanding the last two games here.” He produces so much work for our group, not
The No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Division, the Bruins, got goals from James van Riemsdyk and Pastrnak. Jeremy Swayman recorded 24 saves during his subsequent start.
“We rotated the first two games and then Swayman played so well, we were going to go with the hot hand,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery explained when he decided to start Swayman again rather than Linus Ullmark.
The Maple Leafs, the third-seeded team from the Atlantic, got a point from Mitch Marner. After giving up three goals on 17 shots in the first two periods, Ilya Samsonov was replaced by Joseph Woll, who made five saves.
As this was a crucial game, it was undoubtedly difficult, according to Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly. “I believe we need to look
According to Montgomery, Boston’s performance in the opening two periods of the playoffs was at its best.
Because of the effort made both offensively and defensively in all three zones, he claimed that “we executed well in all three zones and we had a lot of offensive zone time.”
It was 3-1 when Marner cut it at 5:43 in the third. He was able to skate through the slot and backhand a shot past a leaping Swayman after a rebound came to him at the right dot.
This season, including in the playoffs, the Bruins have defeated the Maple Leafs seven times out of eight. They are 13-for-14 (92.9 percent) on the penalty kill against Toronto’s power play, which was seventh in the NHL, and have limited them to seven goals in the four postseason games.