Maple Leafs Stun Bruins in OT to Avoid Elimination with Game Five Victory
After stealing Games Three and Four in Toronto to take a 3-1 series lead and sit one win away from the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Boston Bruins rode their momentum into Game Five of their first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, which returned to TD Garden on Tuesday night. Since 1969, the Bruins have defeated the Maple Leafs six times in a row in the postseason, winning the past three of those meetings in seven games. As a result, they have recently had better head-to-head postseason success. After The Athletic revealed on Tuesday morning that Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews was fighting both an unknown injury and a sickness, it was officially announced less than an hour before the puck dropped that Matthews would not be playing in Game Five. Even though they were missing their top scorer, the Maple Leafs showed no fear as Toronto won Game Five 2-1 thanks to a 27-save performance from Joseph Woll and an overtime winner from Matthew Knies.
Following a successful faceoff, Jake McCabe received the puck at the top of the zone. He blasted the puck through traffic and past Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman and into the net to give the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead early in the game. After being outshot 7-1 in the first 13 minutes of play, the Bruins would tie the score at 1-1 with 6:06 remaining in the first frame. Trent Frederic would be there to quickly shoot a loose puck that would bounce out in front of the net in between Woll's left pad and glove to record his third goal of the series. There would be no goals scored by either side in the second period as the Bruins would have 10 shots on goal in the middle frame as opposed to just two in the first 20 minutes. Following a late altercation in the Bruins zone at the conclusion of the period, Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle's roughing penalties would send the Maple Leafs on the power play, which continued into the third period.
At the end of regulation, the score would stay tied at one goal apiece as the game moved into overtime. In overtime, John Tavares, the captain of the Maple Leafs, shot the puck just 2:26 into the period. It bounced off Swayman, and Knies was there to bury the rebound into the open net, silencing the Boston crowd and giving the Maple Leafs a 2-1 overtime victory to force a Game Six back in Toronto on Thursday night. The Maple Leafs outshot the Bruins 33-28 and won 60.4% of the faceoffs in the victory, which allowed them to register a ton of attacking opportunities. Given that the Maple Leafs had conceded three goals or more in three of the first four games of the series, head coach Sheldon Keefe decided to start Woll over Ilya Samsonov, who had started the first four games, in the hopes of leading Toronto to victory in Game Five.
