Bruins fail to eliminate Maple Leafs, fall to Toronto 2-1 in overtime

April 30, 2024

BOSTON (AP) — Matthew Knies scored less than three minutes into overtime off a feed from John Tavares and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Tuesday night to stave off elimination in their first-round playoff matchup.

Jack McCabe added a goal and Joseph Woll finished with 28 saves to help Toronto cut Boston's lead in the series to 3-2. Game 6 is set for Thursday in Toronto.

Ilya Lyubushkin, Max Domi, Mitch Marner had assists for the Maple Leafs, who outshot the Bruins 33-28.

Trent Frederic scored for the Bruins. Jeremy Swayman finished with 31 saves.

The Maple Leafs played without star Auston Matthews, who sat out with an unspecified illness after making only a brief appearance in the team's morning skate Tuesday.

Matthews had an NHL-leading 69 goals in the regular season and the winner in Game 2 but managed only four shots combined in Toronto's losses in Games 3 and 4.

But Toronto stayed aggressive without him.

With the game tied at 1-1 in the third, Toronto had a chance to go in front with 5:05 remaining after Domi broke free on Tyler Bertuzzi for a two-on-one break. Domi passed to Bertuzzi who fired toward the right corner of the net, but Swayman gloved it.

The heat between the Atlantic Division rivals was on display with 22.1 seconds left in the second period.

Knies attempted a wraparound shot that was pounced on by Swayman. But a scrum ensued in front of the net, leaving bodies piled up.

It led to some face-to-face exchanges and shoving by multiple players before it was broken up by referees.

When it was over, Toronto's Joel Edmundson, and Boston's Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle were all called for roughing. Coyle was sent to the penalty box.

Toronto outshot the Bruins 12-2 and won 16 of 20 faceoffs in the first period. The Maple Leafs pounced on the Bruins' slow start and got on the scoreboard first.

Domi won a faceoff with Frederic in the Boston defensive zone and shuffled the puck to Marner. He flipped it to McCabe, who fired it past Swayman from up high near the blue line to put Toronto in front 1-0 just over five minutes into the opening period.

Frederic made up for it.

Boston's Jesper Boqvist forechecked Simon Benoit hard behind Toronto's goal, making Boqvist fling the puck wildly off Pat Maroon and in front of the net. Frederic was there, gathered the puck and pushed it past Woll to tie the game. It was his third goal of the series.

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