Toronto Maple Leafs Take Playoff Lead By Beating Boston Bruins 3-2

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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–       Trevor Moore opened the scoring for the Maple Leafs at 2:38 of the second period. Moore’s goal is his first career Stanley Cup playoff goal and point. He had eight points (2 goals, 6 assists) in 25 games as a rookie with the Maple Leafs in 2018-19.

–       Auston Matthews scored Toronto’s second goal of the game with a power play marker at 10:12 of the second period and later had the secondary assist on Andreas Johnsson’s second period goal. The goal was his first point of the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. Tonight’s game is his second career multi-point game in the playoffs. He has seven points (5 goals, 2 assists) in seven career playoff games on home ice.

–       Andreas Johnsson registered the primary assist on Matthews’ second period goal and later scored the third Maple Leafs goal of the game on the power play at 17:12 of the second period. Johnsson’s assist was his first point of the series. Tonight’s game is his first career multi-point game in the postseason. He has four points (2-2-4) in nine career Stanley Cup playoff games.

–       Morgan Rielly registered the primary assist on Moore’s second period goal. Rielly’s assist is his first point of the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. He has 11 points (1 goal, 10 assists) in 16 career playoff games. He has six assists in 10 career playoff games against the Bruins.

–       Tyler Ennis picked up the secondary assist on Moore’s second period goal. Ennis’ assist is his first point of the 2019 playoffs in his postseason debut. He has nine points (3-6-9) in 15 career postseason games between Buffalo, Minnesota and Toronto.

–       Mitch Marner collected the secondary assist on Matthews’ power play goal. Marner has three points (2-1-3) in three games this series. He has 16 points (5-11-16) in 16 career playoff games. In 41 home games this season, Marner registered 50 points (14-36-50).

–       John Tavares registered the primary assist on Johnsson’s second period goal. Tavares has three points (1-2-3) through three games of this series. He has 25 points (12-13-25) in 27 career playoff games. He had 43 points (24-19-43) in 41 home games this season.

–       Frederik Andersen stopped 34 shots to earn the victory.

SHOTS ON GOAL (5-on-5 in brackets)

SHOT ATTEMPTS (5-on-5 in brackets)

OF NOTE…

–          The Maple Leafs went 2-for-3 on the penalty kill and 2-for-3 on the power play tonight.

–          Toronto won 66.7 percent (14 won, 7 lost) of their offensive zone faceoffs and 57 percent (30 won, 23 lost) of their faceoffs at even-strength.

–          The Maple Leafs outhit Boston by a 42-33 margin.

–          Tonight’s attendance was 19,611.

–          Zach Hyman, Mitch Marner and Nikita Zaitsev started 11.1 percent of their 5-on-5 shifts in the offensive zone, which was the lowest mark among Toronto skaters.

–          Morgan Rielly was on the ice for a team-high 28 Toronto shot attempts-for at 5-on-5. He finished the game with a 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage of 45.9 percent (28 for, 33 against). 

–          John Tavares won 63 percent (10 won, 6 lost) of his faceoffs when matched up against Boston centre Patrice Bergeron and was 6-for-9 (66.7%) in the faceoff circle against Bergeron in the defensive zone.

MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS

UPCOMING GAMES:

–       Monday, April 15, 7 p.m., Boston at Toronto (CBC, TVA Sports, NBCSN)

–       Wednesday, April 17, 7 p.m., Boston at Toronto (CBC, TVA Sports, NBCSN)

–       Friday, April 19, TBD, Toronto at Boston (TBD)

–       Sunday, April 21, TBD, Boston at Toronto (TBD)*

–       Tuesday, April 23, TBD, Toronto at Boston (TBD)*
*If Necessary

POST GAME QUOTES:

HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK

On the importance of a good start to establishing the team’s game plan:

I thought we had a real good first about seven minutes, then we started turning the puck over and I thought they had good play and we were able to get it back before the end of the period. I don't know what their coach said, I didn't listen, I thought it was a higher-level game than the other games. It was quicker, both teams were better. In the other two games I think one team was better each night. Tonight was a hard-fought game.

On the key to limiting the Bergeron line’s opportunities at even-strength:

I think, obviously, the priority against them is to play real good players, that's what we're doing as a five-man unit and you do everything you can to at least go 50 percent in the faceoff circle so they don't have the puck all the time. We have good players too and John [Tavares] here now, we’ve got a veteran guy, he's been around a while and he's gotten better and better and better defensively this year and it shows.

On Marner blocking two shots at the end of the game:

That's what you've got to do to win. Ideally, all those things are contagious. When you see your teammate do something like that, you're more likely to do it yourself. I think everyone, team-building, they talk about team-building. To me, that's team-building. That's just laying it on the line when you need to and it makes everyone else around you better. Good for him and good for us.

On Matthews’ performance tonight:

I thought he was real good tonight, I thought he had real good legs, skated good, was real good defensively and stayed patient. He didn't turn over the puck, looked after it and then was rewarded. He's a proud guy who wants to be good every night and wants to score, loves to score. It was great, probably relieves a lot of pressure off him.

On Johnsson’s game tonight:

He was good. He hadn't been as good here lately so it's great to see all the details in his game tonight. He’s quick, he’s smart, he can be real hard and then, tonight, he had good detail in his game and was good. Obviously, he was rewarded for that as well and good for him.

 On the team holding third period leads when leading after two in the series:

Obviously, it's just part of the growing up process. You've just got to learn to play with a lead and you've got to learn to play in the offensive zone with the lead and just keep playing. It's easy to say, you tend to get cautious – you don't want to get cautious – you tend to get cautious and back up too much. You don't win like that.

FREDERIK ANDERSEN (34 SAVES)

On the team's play tonight:

I thought we responded really well over the last few days and got ready to play again, made it hard on their D and I think it's going to be tougher for them when we’re able to use our speed. 

On his save on Krejci late in the game with the knob of his stick:

I think just having fun and doing whatever it takes to try to save it. He kind of waited me out a little bit and had a nice move. Like you said, you try to do whatever you can to get to try to get something on it. It was a fun one.

ZACH HYMAN (19:05 TOI)

On the key to stopping the Bruins’ top line:

Putting it behind their D and being on top of them. Staying above them, being physical and then not giving any space in the O-zone.

On the whole team contributing tonight:

Yeah, that was a team win. It’s really tight out there at even-strength. There’s not much room. I think, what, we each got one at even-strength? The other ones were special teams. It’s tight, physical, playoff hockey. You can script what playoff hockey is – it’s that. No room, but those are the games you want to be part of, especially when Freddie [Andersen] makes a big save at the end to really seal the win there. That’s huge for us.

ANDREAS JOHNSSON (1 GOAL, 1 ASSIST)

On what he liked about his line tonight:

I feel like we played much harder and we forechecked hard. We were heavier on the puck, we didn’t lose it too much so we didn’t have to backcheck a lot. It was more controlled play and so we didn’t have to waste a lot of energy in our own zone.

On having success on the power play:

We moved the puck quick and shot it and got it back. Both our goals were when they almost took it and we won it back and, all of a sudden, a guy is open and put it in the back of the net.

AUSTON MATTHEWS (1 GOAL, 1 ASSIST)

On tonight’s start and getting the first goal:

Yeah that was big for us. I think we just used our speed and got in their end and we just tried to play below their dots and did a good job tracking back and supporting our D and breaking out the puck clean.  I thought that first seven, eight minutes was really strong for us.

On scoring his first goal of the postseason:

I mean, just excitement. It’s nice, obviously, to get one. It’s just another level when you score in the playoffs, especially at home. I think I’ve said this before, but it feels like an earthquake under you. The atmosphere tonight was unbelievable. We just want to continue what we built off of tonight here on Wednesday.

TREVOR MOORE (1 GOAL)

On scoring his first career postseason goal:

I mean, it was amazing. It was just kind of surreal out there to see the puck go in and the crowd has been amazing so it was really neat.

On the atmosphere tonight:

It was probably the best crowd I’ve ever played in front of. These fans have been amazing all year and they really brought it tonight. It was huge.

 On his line’s play tonight:

I thought we’d been good when we played together during the regular season. We decided before the game that we were going to play a simple style of hockey, get in there on the forecheck, just work hard and win battles. I thought we did that pretty well.