Bruins top Maple Leafs in shootout, extend record point streak to 10

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins extended their franchise-record season-opening point streak to 10 games in a 3-2 shootout win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at TD Garden on Thursday.

Jake DeBrusk scored in regulation and the shootout, and Jeremy Swayman made 33 saves for Boston (9-0-1), which has its best 10-game start. Mason Lohrei had an assist in his NHL debut.

“It’s such a fun group to work with because we have a lot to get better at,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said, “but we find ways to win.”

William Nylander had an assist to extend his franchise-record season-opening point streak to 10 games, and Ilya Samsonov made 38 saves for Toronto (5-3-2), which has lost three in a row. Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist.

“The guys worked hard,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “I really liked how we came back in the game. We had chances to really bury them in that second period, some point-blank opportunities, and we failed to convert on those. … You want to get two points every time you come into a building, but it’s a tough game tonight and we had to come away with one.”

Pavel Zacha gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 18:51 of the first period, knocking in a centering pass from Brandon Carlo.

DeBrusk made it 2-0 at 1:36 of the second period. He charged into the offensive zone before sending the puck up to Marchand in the slot. Samsonov stopped Marchand from in close, but DeBrusk put in the rebound for his first goal of the season.

“Just getting to the hard areas,” DeBrusk said. “And I think that’s something that, you know, talking earlier about trying to build my own game, I guess. It’s something that I’ve been trying to really focus on, because I knew it wasn’t going to be a pretty one, just didn’t seem like it was coming at the right time, but I knew I had to get in the paint.”

Zacha had a chance to make it 3-0 on a breakaway at 6:00 of the second, but Samsonov stopped him.

Mitchell Marner cut it to 2-1 31 seconds later after a deke around Carlo in the left face-off circle.

“Really hard game for us,” Samsonov said. “Sometimes [a] goalie [needs to make an] extra good save for [when] a team is pushing more.”

Matthews tied it 2-2 at 7:34 from nearly the same spot, sending the puck over Swayman’s glove-side shoulder on a one-timer.

“It’s big. We wanted to respond,” Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly said. “We didn’t start well in that period, but we knew we had to kind of step it up and respond a little bit, so obviously when those guys are going, and those guys score big goals for us, it’s big.”

Rielly rang a shot off the post at 2:05 of overtime.

The Bruins failed to convert on a power play after Nylander was called for holding at 2:25.

DeBrusk and Charlie Coyle scored the only goals in the shootout.

Maple Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren left the game with 41 seconds left in the first after slamming into the corner boards feet first while tied up with Marchand. Keefe said Liljegren is expected to miss “significant time” pending further evaluation.

“We’ve obviously had some pretty good battles with that team,” said Marchand, the Boston captain. “They pushed back. They’re always a great team. Their power play is very dangerous and they kind of took control. … We did a good job regrouping in the third and came out with the win, so it’s good.”

NOTES: Lohrei, who was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when his father, David, was a coach in the ECHL there, became the first Louisiana-born player to play an NHL game. … Bruins defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk had three shots on goal and played 21:23 in his 900th NHL game. … Boston became the second team with a season-opening point streak of at least 10 games this season, joining the Vegas Golden Knights. This is the third NHL season when multiple teams have had double-digit runs, following 2006-07 (Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo Sabres) and 1972-73 (Montreal Canadiens, Sabres). The Ducks and Canadiens went on to win the Stanley Cup in 2006-07 and 1972-73, respectively. … Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy served the first of a four-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Florida Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson on Monday. Boston also played its first game without defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, who was placed on long-term injured reserve Wednesday with an upper-body injury sustained in that game. … Nylander has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) during his streak.