2. Plekanec's first as a Leaf evens score entering first intermission. Centre Tomas Plekanec registered an assist in Toronto's Game 3 win, and the veteran also played nearly 18 minutes that night, a high for him in a Leafs uniform since he was acquired from Montreal at the trade deadline. And the 35-year-old pivot built on that big night Thursday by scoring the game-tying goal at 7:43 of the first period - a goal that was also his first as a Leaf.
The scoring play began when winger Mitch Marner dove to keep the puck in Toronto's possession in Boston's zone, and it went to forward Patrick Marleau, who got it to Plekanec for a one-timer that beat Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask and sent the Air Canada Centre crowd into fits of joy. Plekanec's confidence has been growing throughout the series, and potting such an important goal - one that kept the teams tied as the second period began - could only add to his sense of personal momentum.
3. Marchand, Pastrnak combine to put Boston ahead with second period's lone goal.The Bruins did not have the services of top centre Patrice Bergeron Thursday, who was a late scratch due to an upper-body injury. However, Boston's No. 1 line - which included wingers Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak - found a way to affect the game without Bergeron in the lineup: at 16:55 of the second frame, Pastrnak and Marchand made the most of a 2-on-1 rush into Toronto's zone, and Pastrnak made a perfect pass to Marchand, who scored into an open net to the right of Andersen for Marchand's second goal of the playoffs and a 2-1 Boston lead.
The Leafs outshot the Bruins 12-7 in the first period and 10-9 in the middle frame, but they found themselves down a goal entering the third. And, just as they did in Games 1 and 2, Marchand and Pastrnak were major factors in keeping their team in the lead.
4. Bruins make most of another 2-on-1 rush, build two-goal lead on DeBrusk's third-period marker.The Leafs' defence corps has had some questionable decisions at times in the series, and both of Boston's goals in the second and third period came after pinches gone awry and 2-on-1 rushes that ended with the puck in Toronto's net. After Marchand's go-ahead goal in the second, winger Jake DeBrusk netted his second of the playoffs and the visitors' third of the night after centre David Krejci made a pinpoint pass to him at 4:17 of the third.
Toronto's blueliners have done well this season jumping into the rush and finding ways to create offence, but the risk involved with that style of play means there's a chance the play can go the other way and become an issue if the Leafs don't have appropriate structure and protection. And on this night, the Bruins took advantage of lapses in structure to build a two-goal lead with 15 minutes left in regulation time.
5. Toronto tries to create offence in third, but Bruins are stingy, sew up win to take commanding series lead. Toronto again outshot Boston in the third - this time by a 10-5 margin - but the Bruins did a bang-up job of clogging the neutral zone and minimizing the Leafs' high-quality scoring chances on Rask.
In the end, Rask turned aside 31 of 32 Leafs shots to lock up the victory, which puts his team one win from moving on to the second round. The Leafs weren't outplayed the way they were in Games 1 and 2, but Boston was able to constrain Toronto's top players from having an effect on the scoresheet, and the Buds' defenders made a couple of errors that the opportunistic Bruins immediately pounced on and converted into goals. The Stanley Cup playoffs are all about minimizing mistakes, and on this occasion, Boston was the better team because they made fewer errors and made the Leafs pay for the errors they made.
