BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Bruins held a one-point lead when defenseman Charlie McAvoy grabbed the edge of his skate and fell while trying to scramble for a loose puck with Toronto's Auston Matthews.
The Maple Leafs forward, and the NHL's leading goal scorer this season, left no one between him and the goal. Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman came out to flick the puck away, but couldn't make it in time. Matthews turned and fired a shot into the open net – hitting the near post.
“As soon as I got past Sway, it was 1-1,'' Bruins manager Jim Montgomery said after Boston pulled away and beat Toronto 5-1 in the opening game of the first round of the playoff series on Saturday night. “I thought so,” he said. “We can't give Matthews that opportunity. He's too good a goalscorer.”
Bruins rookie Johnny Beecher made his first postseason shot on goal, giving the Bruins a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. Matthews, who leads the NHL in goals with 69, was still down by one point entering the second period. This season they kicked Swayman out of the crease, but He slammed the puck into the goal post.
“I just wanted to see if I could get there before him,” Swayman said. “I'm glad I didn't go in.”
A minute after Matthews' miss, Brandon Carlo made it 2-0, and Jake DeBrusk added two power-play goals to extend the lead to 4-0. Trent Frederick added an empty netter to make it 5-1 with just over two minutes left.
David Kampf scored for Toronto and Ilya Samsonov stopped 23 shots.
“In the second period, we had some chances. Really good chances. Some of the best chances of the game,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Matthews had a chance to tie it. We don't do that and… it ends up in our net. Then a penalty was taken and we were able to pull the game away. Ta.
“We shouldn't make those mistakes at this time of year,” Keefe said. “The team that does that is going to be on the wrong side of the game.”
Game 2 will be played Monday night in Boston, before the series moves to Games 3 and 4 in Toronto. If the Bruins follow their season pattern, Linus Ullmark will be in net for Swayman.
“It's going to be hard to walk away from Sway. He had a great game,” Montgomery said. “If we decide to take Ullmark, we're happy with it and the team is happy with it. Whoever starts next doesn't affect us in that room.”
The Maple Leafs are eager to end a half-century Stanley Cup drought and break Canada's three-decade drought — or at least build on last year's accomplishments, when they won their first playoff series since 2004. I long for that. You must overcome the Original Six's nemesis.
Toronto hasn't beaten the Bruins in the playoffs by six tries since 1959. Boston also won the regular season series 4-0.
This one was pretty much the same.
Toronto, which lost second-leading scorer William Nylander to an undisclosed injury, tried to get in shape physically before the opener, but when Max entered the game, Domi tried to provoke Bruins captain Brad Marchand. This didn't work, and Boston jumped out to a 2-0 lead before taking advantage of a Leafs penalty to pull away.
Beecher, who played in 17 games in the AHL this season, converted a 2-on-1 against Jesper Boqvist to give Boston the lead 2:26 into the game.
It remained that way until about five minutes into the second, when DeBrusk dug the puck out from behind the Toronto net and fed it to Carlo in the goal slot. The Leafs earned back-to-back penalties, and the Bruins converted both penalties before Kampf made it 4-1, ruining the shutout early in the third inning.
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