The Bruins have won games in all kinds of manner this year but, on Saturday night in Toronto, they might've got what they deserved in a 2-1 loss to the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.
The Bruins were outplayed and outworked for most of the night, especially on two critical third-period power plays when trailing by a goal but they couldn’t test goalie Erik Kallgren, who replaced an injured Ilya Samsonov to start the third period.
Still, the Bruins pushed to the end, especially with their goalie pulled, but they could not get their high-powered offense on track as their seven-game win streak was snapped. Linus Ullmark also suffered his first loss of the season while Auston Matthews scored both Toronto goals, handing the Bruins just their second loss of the season in 12 games.
The Leafs swept their three-game season series with the Bruins last year and, though the Bruins are a very different team this year, much of the first period looked like an extension of last year.
Toronto scored the only goal of the period at 7:19. Brandon Carlo went behind the net for a puck battle with Michael Bunting and, after Carlo lost his balance and fell, Bunting kicked the puck to Matthews. From behind the net, Matthews stepped out and beat Ullmark with a short-side lift of the puck.
The Bruins got a little better as the period went on. Hampus Lindholm made a nice rush up the left and set up David Pastrnak for a Grade A chance, but the sniper could not control the puck for a shot. Also Charlie Coyle spotted Trent Frederic in the high slot, but Frederic whistled his snap shot over the net.
The Leafs, who had their skating game going, held a 11-7 shot advantage in the first.
It looked like much of the same early in the second period, but things changed, briefly, when John Tavares took a slashing penalty on Jakub Zboril when the young defenseman decided to attack at the Toronto blue line.
Early in the advantage, Brad Marchand got behind T.J. Brodie and had a clean chance before Brodie tripped him from behind. It was deemed worthy of a penalty shot. On the free chance, Marchand came in with good speed and made the subtlest of moves to his backhand to lift it over a flummoxed Samsonov at 4:59. It was Marchand’s fourth goal in as many games and his 800th career point.
But the Leafs went right back to controlling the play and eventually took the lead again at 14:07 after Jake DeBrusk was called for a defensive zone holding. On the power play, William Nylander gathered a loose puck in the neutral zone, reloaded and attacked. He circled behind the net and fed it back to a far-too-open Matthews for an easy tap in. It snapped a streak of 20 straight successful kills for the Bruins and was the first power-play goal allowed on the road for them.
Meanwhile, the Bruins attack was thwarted time and time again seconds as soon as they crossed the Toronto blue line. They were outshot 26-14 through 40 minutes. Toronto flurried right to the end of the period and earned a power-play with six seconds left when Connor Clifton was forced to take a crosschecking penalty on Bunting, giving the Leafs a healthy man advantage to start the third.
