Bruins fall to Maple Leafs in OT, 4-3

TORONTO — The Bruins finally got some secondary scoring as well as a timely tally from an old reliable, but Mitch Marner’s overtime goal with 1:06 left in the extra session handed the B’s a 4-3 loss Saturday night and their first losing streak of the season.

Jaroslav Halak could not catch up with Marner’s high wrist shot that gave the Leafs the second point on a night in which the B’s were in chase mode throughout the contest.

After Jake DeBrusk cut a 2-0 Toronto lead in half in the second period with his first goal of the season, Danton Heinen evened the game at 1:36 of the third period at the tail end of a power-play, lifting a shot over a prone Frederik Andersen.

But while the B’s had worked their tails off to tie the game up, the Leafs got the lead right back just 1:01 later.

Alex Kerfoot was able to control a bouncing rebound of a Jake Muzzin shot and backhand it under Jaroslav Halak to make it 3-2 Toronto at 2:37 of the third.

The B’s kept at it, however, and evened it up yet again with 4:26 left in regulation, with David Pastrnak whistling a one-timer off a Brad Marchand pass just under the crossbar past Andersen.

The Bruins got themselves into a little bit of trouble with puck management in the first period and found themselves down 2-0 by the 15:44 mark.

Morgan Rielly got the Leafs on the board first at 5:55. It was the talented defenseman’s first goal of the year, though it wasn’t exactly a thing of beauty. He one-timed a Marner pass from above the circles and it was going wide if it hadn’t hit Brandon Carlo just below the B on his chest. The puck dropped behind Halak for the 1-0 Toronto lead.

Halak had to make several good saves after that, including one in tight on Kerfoot. But after Sean Kuraly had some issues with the puck deep in his own end, Dmytro Timashov seemed to surprise Halak on a wrister as he was falling down. After Kuraly lost his footing while retrieving a puck in the corner, he regained his footing and tried to play the puck off the wall and out. But Frederik Gauthier was there to get in front of the puck and deflected it over to Timashov. The young Ukranian carried the puck into the high slot and, just as it looked like he might try to take the puck wide and to the net, he used Connor Clifton as a screen and buried the puck over Halak’s glove arm with 4:16 left in the period.

The B’s were not without their chances, however. Jake DeBrusk had a breakaway but he didn’t have much time to deke and Frederik Andersen was able to flash his pad to stop his low wrister.

But with 20.6 seconds left in the period, DeBrusk finally gave the Bruins some of that secondary scoring for which they’ve been desperately looking. Charlie Coyle did the hard work behind the net and made a beautiful pass out front for DeBrusk, who buried the short-range shot for his first of the year to get the B’s back to within striking distance.

The B’s had numerous glittering chances to even it up in the second period. They got the first two power-plays of the game and they also had a fantastic chance at even strength. During a line change, Brett Ritchie made a terrific pass through the crease to Patrice Bergeron but Bergeron uncharacteristically heeled it wide.

Then on the second PP, they had several god chances. The best came when Pastrnak threaded the needle to DeBrusk at the side of the net for what looked like an easy tap-in but DeBrusk could not convert. Then later in the advantage, Andersen made back-to-back stops, first on a mad-range snap shot from Bergeron and again on Brad Marchand off the long rebound of the Bergeron shot.

It looked like to Toronto was going to get its first power-play when David Backes was called for golatender interference off the a rush, but Leaf defenseman Martin Marincin objected to Backes’ actions too vigorously and was also sent off for roughing.

After an uneventful 4-on-4, the B’s ratcheted up the pressure but could not get the equalizer but were starting the period with 1:38 of PP time after DeBrusk was hauled down by Marincin.

The B’s held a 33-18 shot advantage after two periods (15-3 in the second) but still trailed by a goal.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2BDtBJ3