Shorthanded Bruins Top Maple Leafs for 6th Straight Win

TORONTO -- Morgan Geekie had a goal and an assist, and the Boston Bruins won their sixth straight game, 5-3 against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

“It feels good coming to Toronto, it is always not easy especially when you are missing a few guys too,” Boston coach Marco Sturm said. “But we kind of stuck with our game and just like I told the guys, for me it was a very impressive win. The way we played 5-on-5, the way we finished the game, it was great to see.”

Mason Lohrei, who had been a healthy scratch the past five games, had two assists and Jeremy Swayman made 30 saves for the Bruins (10-7-0). Boston was without defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who remained in Boston to attend to a family matter, which led to Lohrei’s return.

“Getting ready for the game, I was pretty excited just to be back and playing again,” Lohrei said. “You are always kind of part of the group so this winning streak has been fun no matter what. It’s tough, obviously you want to be in but just go day by day and just get ready for your next opportunity. It’s something I’ve been through before at every level so I guess I know the recipe.”

John Tavares, Matias Maccelli and Nicholas Robertson scored for the Maple Leafs (8-6-1), who had won three in a row and five of their past six. Morgan Rielly had two assists. Anthony Stolarz was pulled after allowing four goals on 19 shots. Dennis Hildeby, who was recalled from Toronto of the American Hockey League on Saturday, made 19 saves in relief.

“I thought three of the goals we ended up bringing the puck back in our zone, we didn’t need to, we could have just got it out but they ended up scoring on three of them,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “I thought we didn’t execute well enough with the puck early on. I think we all got to be better including the goalie… We didn’t execute well enough and for me, we caused all those goals ourselves.”

Michael Eyssimont put the Bruins up 3-2 at 2:15 of the second period when he jammed a shot under Stolarz’s right pad from the side of the net on the power play.

David Pastrnak made it 4-2 at 4:41 when he deked Simon Benoit at the right face-off dot to get in alone and jammed a shot under Stolarz’s left pad.

Tavares cut it to 4-3 at 16:51 on the power play when he took a pass from William Nylander and shot high blocker from the slot.

Nylander appeared to tie it at 15:24 but his shot went off the crossbar, then the left post before bouncing out of the goal crease.

“I thought it went in and then I saw it in the corner and then I thought if it went in it wouldn’t be in the corner, so that was relieving,” Bruins forward Fraser Minten said. “That was a good break for us, he had basically an empty net. Willy doesn’t miss that often.”

Minten made it 5-3 at 16:58 of the third period, taking a pass from Mark Kastelic on a 2-on-1 and shooting past a sprawling Hildeby.

“You could see it in his celebration but I thought he was the best player on the ice to be honest,” Sturm said. “He was just very, very calm. The little details he had, he was ready to go, he wanted to be out there. It was impressive because a lot of the young kids, they don’t especially when it’s a tight game and you got traded from that team. I loved his game today.”

Minten, who had two shots in 14:53 of ice time, was acquired by the Bruins from the Maple Leafs on March 7.

“It’s great to hear that,” Minten said. “That’s my goal as a player, I’m a competitive guy, I want to be out there playing so continuing to build on that, earn that trust, earn those minutes. That’s why I play the game.”

The Maple Leafs went up 1-0 at 3:12 of the first period when Robertson redirected a pass from Max Domi in the slot on the power play.

Geekie tied it 1-1 at 3:30 when he fanned on his first shot, recovered the puck and shot past Stolarz’s outstretched left leg in the slot.

Viktor Arvidsson put the Bruins up 2-1 20 seconds later when he redirected a loose puck in the slot after Dakota Joshua lost control of it when skating out of the corner.

“First and foremost, I’ve got to bare down and make a save,” Stolarz said. “Giving up the first two shots, not a good way to start the game. I liked our compete, guys came out after that and responded well. We put a lot of pressure on them but when you give a team like that a couple freebees, it’s going to be tough to come back.”

Maccelli tied it 2-2 at 13:03 when he took a no-look, between-the-legs pass from Nicolas Roy, who was behind the net, and shot blocker side from the bottom of the right face-off circle.

NOTES: The three goals scored between 3:12 and 3:50 of the first period were the three fastest combined goals by two teams since March 9, 2023 when the Dallas Stars and Buffalo Sabres combined to score three times in 28 seconds. ... Pastrnak's goal was the 399th of his career. Aside from being a goal away from 400, he is three behind Rick Middleton (402) for fifth place in Bruins franchise history.