Team Effort Spurs Bruins in Win Over Leafs

BOSTON - The Bruins were reeling a bit as they returned home for their tilt with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. A winless road trip to Florida left them with a three-game losing streak and four regulation losses in their last five games.
And if things weren't already bad enough on the injury front, Boston was delivered yet another blow with the news following morning skate that Jake DeBrusk would miss at least two games with an upper-body injury.

Add in the fact that the high-flying Maple Leafs were on the docket and things weren't looking particularly bright for the Bruins - but, that's why they play the games.
Despite being further depleted by their season-long injury bug, the Bruins put forth one of their best all-around performances of the year and cruised to a 6-3 pounding of the rival Leafs at TD Garden.
"I thought it was very good, goaltending good early…our best players were very good, helped out offensively," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. "Our power play chipped in. I thought our D corps was very efficient with the puck. For the most part, it was one of our most complete games."

After scoring just eight goals over their previous five games, Boston erupted offensively with five goals over the final two periods. The Bruins had six different players score a goal and six different players notch multi-point games, including Danton Heinen (goal, assist), who had the eventual winner with a nifty forehand finish just 1:47 into the third.
"It was nice," said Heinen, who snapped an 11-game scoreless stretch to give Boston a 4-0 advantage. "[Ryan Donato] made a good play on the wall there and I was lucky enough to get through and it was nice to see that."
Overall, it was a strong night for Heinen's line, which included fellow youngsters Donato and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson. All three scored, and in the end combined for five points, with Heinen and Donato picking up a goal and an assist apiece.
"There are a lot of young guys and you want to be guys that are trusted by the coach. They had a lot of good lines over there too, so you're getting a tough match up with either line," said Heinen. "I think that's what you want. You want to be playing against good players. I thought we were all right tonight and I think we can build on it."

Boston also received sizable contributions from its core players, including a three-assist night from Brad Marchand, multi-point games from Torey Krug (goal, two assists) and David Pastrnak (two assists), and a power-play marker from David Backes. But it was David Krejci's evening that stood out.
The pivot's two-point output - while centering Marchand and Pastrnak - pushed him past Cam Neely for 10th place on the Bruins' all-time scoring list with 592 points. Krejci leapfrogged Boston's president with an assist on Krug's second-period tally and later added his fourth goal of the season - and second in the last two games - to extend the Bruins' lead to 5-1 at 4:37 of the third.
"I'm proud of him. I feel bad for my boss, Cam, but that's how it goes," Cassidy quipped. "Lists are made to be broken, people are made to be passed, so good for Krech. Who's next? Terry O'Reilly? I bet you didn't think I knew that, did you?...I'm happy for Krech. He's been a great Bruin for a long time, and he keeps right on trucking."

And it wasn't just the scoring that highlighted the Bruins' convincing effort. Boston also upped its physical intensity, especially after a dangerous hit on Charlie McAvoy in the third period that left the blue liner - playing in just his second game back after a 20-game absence with a concussion - on his knees behind the Bruins' net.
Roughly a second after McAvoy got rid of the puck, Toronto forward Zach Hyman delivered a crushing blow, which prompted Matt Grzelcyk (assist) to drop the gloves with Hyman in the neutral zone. Grzelcyk received 30 minutes in penalties on the play (five for fighting, five for cross-checking, and two 10-minute game misconducts, one for not having his jersey properly secured).
"They're real good buddies," Cassidy said of Grzelcyk and McAvoy, the former Boston University teammates. "And it just seems like every time one of those hits happen it's our smallest guy that's the closest guy in the vicinity, but they always go and show up, so you have to give them credit for that."
McAvoy was ushered to the dressing room as part of the NHL's concussion protocol, but returned to the bench with just over two minutes to play, though he did not take another shift.
"That was the league-mandated protocol. He went and got through it," said Cassidy. "I suppose until tomorrow comes and he wakes up, we're all going to be a little bit on pins and needles, but he was cleared to come back…hopefully he wakes up feeling great and knows, 'Well, hey, I'm kind of back to myself.' That would be best case scenario for us."

Just over a minute later, the temperature elevated even more when Chris Wagner delivered a heavy hit on Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly in the neutral zone. Ron Hainsey challenged Wagner leading to the third fight of the evening (Brandon Carlo and Nazem Kadri also dropped them in the second period).
"That's how we were going to win tonight," said Krug, who picked up his first goal of the season. "If we didn't have that edge…their skill starts to feel a little bit more comfortable out there on the ice. I think it's a game we're obviously really excited about.
"It's a Saturday night in our building against a division rival, a team that we know we can skate with and play well, do a good job against their skills. I think coming away with a win, it's exciting to see the way the guys responded after three games not playing exactly the way we wanted.
"Especially when guys are sticking up for each other, you get excited about that. But it's one of those wins that can bring a group together."