Bruins Fall to Leafs on Last-Minute Goal

TORONTO -Entering Saturday night's game in Toronto, just 1 point separated the Bruins and Maple Leafs - ranked second and third, respectively - in the Atlantic Division standings. The talk leading up to the showdown was dominated by the likelihood of the teams meeting at some point in the postseason.
If their contest at the Air Canada Centre is any indication, it has the potential to be one heck of a series.

After trading goals through the first two periods, the Maple Leafs capitalized on a controversial tally with just 1:23 to play to snatch away a 4-3 victory over the Bruins.
"It's an important - a very important game," said Charlie McAvoy. "It felt like a playoff game, there's a lot on the line there. We're playing against them; that's a potential matchup in the playoffs right there. Trying to put a great game together and trying to get valuable points. To see it end like that was tough."

The Maple Leafs' winning goal came off a Ron Hainsey one-timer from the point, which sailed by Rask, who immediately signaled to the officials for goalie interference. On replay, it appeared that Toronto's Zach Hyman shoved McAvoy into Rask and impeded his ability to get to the puck.
"I knew it was [interference], but I wasn't sure who hit me," said Rask, who made 32 saves and kept Boston in the game through a difficult second period. "Then they showed the replay there. Fifty-nine minutes played, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna save that puck if I'm there on time. I don't know what the argument was, if it was that our D was interfering with me…all I can say is I would have stopped it."
Following a lengthy review, the officials determined that the call on the ice would stand and signaled for a good goal.
"I was pushed into Tuukks. Very, very [surprised]," said McAvoy. "I don't know what goaltender interference really is. I know I'm not the only one. We've seen it work in our favor, we've seen it work against us. There really just isn't a fine line. I guess just get behind it, it's over now."
The Bruins, admittedly, did not play their strongest game on Saturday night, but felt they deserved to have the game decided in overtime.
"It becomes frustrating if [goalie interference calls] start deciding games," said Rask. "You battle 59 minutes and feel good about yourself and then it's a [lousy] goal like that that decides the game. That could be frustrating. Luckily it hasn't happened to us very often."

Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy was not quite pleased with his team's offensive effort, despite putting three goals - two from Brad Marchand - on the board. He believed they could have created more opportunities (they had just 23 shots on goal) and more havoc at the net front.
"You win some, you lose some on those," Cassidy said of the lack of a goalie interference call. "If you're generating stuff around their net maybe those calls go our way. I think that was an issue for us tonight. We weren't around the front of their net enough. They made a good play to win possession of the puck and they got it to the net. It's up to us to be a little harder."
Despite entering the game with the league's top penalty kill, Boston also surrendered two power-play goals to the Leafs - both from Nazem Kadri.
"They have a tone of skill, you've got to give them credit…a lot of guys that can do damage, especially on the power play," said Marchand. "They're gonna make some plays out there and tonight they happened to capitalize."
The second Kadri tally tied the game, 3-3, with just 56 seconds to play in the second. The Bruins were facing a 5-on-3 situation, before Zdeno Chara exited the box, putting three Boston defensemen on the ice with Riley Nash. With the structure of the kill a bit disrupted, Kadri got open in the slot and ripped home a one-timer to knot things up.
"That's a structure issue for sure because our forward will generally be over top of that bumper fairly quickly," said Cassidy. "I'm not gonna put that on the D. I'm sure they're aware of it, but being out of position they're a second late. That's gonna happen. Toronto's got a good power play. On both their goals, they moved the puck around well."
Boston almost escaped the second without any damage - and the lead - despite being outshot, 16-2. Jake DeBrusk gave the Bruins a 3-2 advantage when he surged down the slot and deflected a Ryan Spooner feed with his backhand just 1:55 into the frame. But the Bruins land just one more shot over the final 18:05.
"What happened was they were a lot better than us," said Cassidy. "We came out of it [with a goal each] but they were clearly the better team. I thought our gaps for our D weren't good enough to kill some plays, to get some transition going whether it's breakout or neutral zone…then you start killing some penalties and it adds up."

The teams were also tied after a frenzied first period, which included two goals from Marchand. The winger opened the scoring at 6:11 when he took a David Pastrnak feed and ripped one by Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen from the slot.
Mitch Marner responded just 1:04 later, before Kadri struck for his first power-play marker of the night 3:15 after that to put Toronto ahead, 2-1. Marchand grabbed his second when he took another slick Pastrnak dish and flipped a snipe over Andersen's shoulder to tie it up.
It was that kind of up-and-down play from the Bruins that has come to define this lengthy Canadian road trip, which Boston (2-2-0) will try to end above .500 when it wraps up back in the States on Sunday evening with a tilt against Buffalo.
"We've played well in pockets and other times we haven't," said Cassidy. "Tonight they did a real good job shutting us down. Even though we got our three goals I don't think we generated as much as we generally do. They made it tough on us with their play in the neutral zone and that was the difference in the game.
"They got there in a hurry…they're a fast team, they get to the net and play hard. I thought they were the better team tonight."