[54-19-9]
5
2
12/08/2013
FINAL
[38-36-8]
123T
BOS0325
39SHOTS32
33FACEOFFS39
29HITS36
10PIM8
2/3PP0/4
9GIVEAWAYS12
8TAKEAWAYS6
23BLOCKED SHOTS15
     

Bruins make rare Sunday night visit to Maple Leafs

Sunday, 12.08.2013 / 12:30 AM

BRUINS (19-8-2) at MAPLE LEAFS (16-11-3)

TV: TSN; NESN, RDS2, LEAFS TV

Last 10: Boston 7-2-1, Toronto 4-4-2

Season series: This is the second of four games between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, who next meet in Boston on Jan. 14. The Bruins won the first game, beating the Maple Leafs 3-1 at TD Garden on Nov. 9. This is the 326th regular-season game between the teams in Toronto but just the third on a Sunday.

Big story: Both teams looking to sweep a Saturday-Sunday back-to-back. Toronto returns to Air Canada Centre after a 4-3 road shootout victory against the Ottawa Senators, while Boston tries to build on an emotional 3-2 home victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Team Scope:

Bruins: Boston headed for Toronto after a come-from-behind victory against the Penguins in which the Bruins scored twice in the final 1:29 of regulation. David Krejci tied it with a sixth-attacker goal and Zdeno Chara got the game-winner with 13 seconds to play.

“There was a lot of emotions involved and it was up-and-down hockey, a lot of scoring chances, very playoff kind of hockey," Chara said. "We were behind the whole game. We were just fighting for that tying goal and eventually we got it and then we carried that momentum into basically the end of the game and we were able to score a goal with very little time left in the game so it was a good game to win for us.”

But the Bruins may need some reinforcements. They will be without forward Shawn Thornton, who's headed for a heading with the NHL Department of Player Safety after being assessed a match penalty in the first period. Two other regular forwards, Loui Eriksson and Chris Kelly, didn't make the trip to Toronto after being injured on Saturday.

Maple Leafs: Toronto continues to get fabulous play from its goaltenders. Two nights after Jonathan Bernier survived a 50-shot barrage in a 3-2 overtime win against the Dallas Stars, James Reimer saw 50 more against the Ottawa Senators. He stopped 47 and denied two more in the shootout to give the Maple Leafs the win.

Reimer, now 7-0-0 in Ottawa, was disappointed that Toronto couldn't close out the Senators in regulation after taking a 3-1 lead.

"I wanted to really shut the door," Reimer said. "You never like giving up a lead in the third and you want to stand in there for the boys, so when it came to the shootout I wanted to stand on my head and give them a chance."

Who's hot: Krejci has four points in his past four games and Chara has three points in that span. … James Van Riemsdyk has six points during a four-game point streak. Nazem Kadri has two goals and three points in his past two games.

Injury report: Eriksson (concussion) and Kelly (lower body) stayed home after Saturday's game. The Bruins were already without defensemen Johnny Boychuk (back) and Adam McQuaid (lower body). … Toronto is missing centers Tyler Bozak (oblique) and Dave Bolland (ankle), as well as forwards Joffrey Lupul (groin) and Colton Orr (elbow).

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