The Maple Leafs and Bruins have a golden opportunity ahead of them if they can get through to the second round. (reporterchris )
With due respect to the Columbus Blue Jackets, who stunned the 62-win Lightning with a first-round sweep, there was a burst of excitement to be found in having the Presidents’ Trophy winners taken out of the picture.“They found the formula,” Cassidy said of Columbus, which is now awaiting the winner of this series in the second round. “Not too many teams did this year, it wasn’t just us, I think a lot of teams would tell you they were a handful. They found the formula and they get to move on.
With Toronto looking to push the Bruins to the brink in Wednesday’s game, Cassidy dropped David Pastrnak down his lineup for more balance and saw his team quickly show that two-thirds of the “Perfection Line” is still pretty damn good. After Charlie McAvoy’s power-play strike at 3:03, Brad Marchand made it 2-0 on a lovely setup from McAvoy before the seven-minute mark.
Hyman got a Toronto rally started after a failed Leafs power play, tipping Morgan Rielly’s dipping point shot past Tuuka Rask. Auston Matthews tied it 2-2 early in the second period, getting off a curl-and-drag shot in front of Zdeno Chara that fooled the Bruins goaltender. But Pastrnak soon struck for his first two goals of the series — slipping free of Mitch Marner to tip Brad Marchand’s pass behind Frederik Andersen and then hammering a one-timer on another Marchand feed during the power play.
The Leafs pushed hard for the rest of the period, heavily tilting the ice towards the Boston zone, but Rask stood tall. The Bruins appeared to be in the clear when Chara’s point shot made its way through a Patrice Bergeron screen at 5:39 of the third period, but Matthews scored his second on a power play and Travis Dermott followed with another 95 seconds later — bringing Scotiabank Arena alive.We’re now down to a best-of-three with Game 5 to be played Friday at TD Garden.
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