Bruins Advance to Second Round with Pastrnak’s Game Seven OT Winner Against the Maple Leafs

Every sports fan wants to hear the two finest words: "Game Seven." The highly anticipated winner-take-all Game Seven between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs took place at TD Garden on Saturday night. The winner would advance to play the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Bruins found themselves starting Game Seven in a similar situation to the previous postseason, having held a 3-1 series lead against the Panthers and Maple Leafs the previous two seasons. However, they were unable to seal the series, losing to the Panthers in the first round and on the verge of repeating the same mistake twice. The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, went into the game hoping to win their first playoff series since 1958–59 over their division rivals. After missing Games Five and Six of the series due to an injury that was not disclosed, star center Auston Matthews would return to the Maple Leafs lineup, giving them further reinforcements in an attempt to end their past bad fortune against the Bruins. There were plenty of opportunities for both sides to take the lead during the pivotal Game Seven, which was a back-and-forth affair. Eventually, the Bruins defeated the Maple Leafs 2-1 in overtime thanks to a goal by David Pastrnak that sealed the series victory. 

The Bruins would open the game by bucking their recent poor performance at the beginning of the previous two games, where they only combined for three first-period shots in Games Five and Six. In Game Seven, things would be different as Boston outshot the Maple Leafs 11-8 in the opening 20 minutes. Nevertheless, the game went into the second period scoreless as neither team was able to strike the back of the net. Within the first ten minutes of the second period, the Bruins would go on the power play twice. The Bruins, on the other hand, were unable to take advantage of their man advantage, managing only two shots in total, which kept the score level at zero heading into the last period. 

With 10:59 remaining in the third period, Matthews received the puck from Tyler Bertuzzi near the right circle, followed by a pass to a wide-open William Nylander near the left circle, where he slapped the puck into the open net to give the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead. A mere 1:21 later, James Van Riemsdyk backhanded the puck to Hampus Lindholm close to the left circle, and Lindholm sent the puck over Maple Leafs goalie Ilya Samsonov's right shoulder and into the net to tie the game at one. As the two teams headed into overtime for the second time in the series, the score was tied at 1-1 despite many excellent scoring opportunities late in regulation that neither team was able to convert. Just 1:54 had passed in the overtime period when Lindholm fired a shot from center ice into the offensive zone. The puck bounced off the boards behind the net and out in front, where Pastrnak collected it and backhanded it over Samsonov's right pad and into the net for the game-winning goal that sent Boston fans inside TD Garden into celebration as the Bruins advanced to the second round of the playoffs.