2. Bruins even things up early in second, but Marleau's marker puts Toronto back in front seconds later. The Bruins won both Games 1 and 2 by a four-goal margin, and their No. 1 line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak figured prominently into most, if not all of their offence. However, the Bs got their first goal of Game 3 from defenceman Adam McQuaid, who netted his first playoff goal at 3:06 of the second to even the score at a goal apiece.
But 43 seconds later, forward Patrick Marleau took a nice pass from winger Mitch Marner and beat Rask for his first goal of the series and a 2-1 Leafs lead. Blueliner Morgan Rielly, who contributed the secondary assist on van Riemsdyk's marker, added the secondary assist on Marleau's goal to give him four helpers in the series. More importantly, the Buds' answer-back proved to the Bruins that this was a different Toronto team than the one they'd played last week. This Leafs team had resilience and drive, and that was music to Buds head coach Mike Babcock's ears.
3. Chara pulls Boston even again, but Matthews takes feed from Nylander before scoring with pinpoint precision.The Leafs were outshot by Boston 16-11 in the middle period, and the Bruins were able to tie the score twice in the frame - the second time, at 6:19 of the period, when blueliner Zdeno Chara's shot from the goal line to the right of netminder Frederik Andersen went into Toronto's net off Andersen's mask.
Yet, once again, the Leafs were determined not to let Boston take their first lead of the night. At the 14:47 mark of the second, centre Auston Matthews took a slick feed from linemate William Nylander and picked the corner on Rask for his first goal of the post-season and a 3-2 Toronto lead entering the third period. The emotion on Matthews' face was crystal clear as he celebrated, and the message was clear: the Buds were the hungrier team on this occasion.
4. Bruins amp up pressure on Buds in third, but Marleau registers second of game to give Leafs breathing room.Toronto knew Boston would work their hardest to tie the game again in the final regulation frame, and the visitors limited the Leafs to just seven shots in the final 20 minutes of action. But one of those shots came on a 2-on-1 Toronto rush in which Marleau carried the puck into the Bruins' zone, hesitated just a second, and instead of passing, fired it just underneath Rask's glove and into the net to give the Leafs a two-goal advantage at the 16:25 mark.
Marleau's value as a playoff-tested veteran never was more apparent than it was in this game, and his cool and calm nature helped the Leafs navigate the tough waters late in the contest.
5. Andersen comes up with sensational stick stop to keep Bruins at bay, lock up Leafs' first win of series. Pastrnak had a hat trick and a six-point outing against the Leafs in Game 2, and he nearly netted his fifth goal of the series late in the third period when he had a wide-open Leafs net to the right of Andersen. However, Andersen made a stupendous stick save on the shot to prevent it from going in, and that stopped the Bruins from generating any momentum in the closing moments of Game 3.
Andersen stopped 40 of 42 shots (including all 18 he saw from the Bs in the third) to secure the victory and give the Leafs their first win of the series. The Leafs were outplayed in Boston, but this win demonstrated that they're not going to hand over the series to the Bruins - and indeed, if they can stay disciplined as they did Monday (giving Boston just a single power play all game), Toronto has every chance of evening up the series in Game 4 Thursday and making this a best-of-three as the series heads back to Boston.
