Andersen Makes 42 Saves, Leafs Top Bruins 4-3 To Cut Series To 3-2 Boston
The Boston Bruins couldn’t find a way to close out the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. Toronto lived to fight another day as they won 4-3 in Game 5 at TD Garden, despite getting out-shot 45-21. Frederik Andersen made 42 saves for the Leafs in the win, who are now down 3-2 in the first-round playoff series.
Connor Brown drew first blood for the Leafs in the first period. After Auston Matthews’ wrap-around attempt deflected and floated in front of Rask, Brown batted it out of the air and in to make it 1-0. Less than four minutes later, Andreas Johnsson made it 2-0 when Nazem Kadri threaded a pass through two Bruins defenders to set him up at the doorstep.
Boston ended up out-shooting Toronto 15-6 in the first period, but went to the locker room down 2-0. The Bruins didn’t get on the board until almost halfway through the second, when David Backes took advantage of a fortunate bounce out in front and tucked it past Andersen to cut the lead to 2-1. But unfortunately for the Bruins, the Leafs answered just 51 seconds later with a goal by Tyler Bozak. After a complete defensive breakdown left Bozak wide open in front of Rask, the goalie couldn’t bail the defense out like he did in Game 4.
James van Riemsdyk scored just 1:19 later on a Leafs power play to extend the lead to 4-1. Mitch Marner fed it behind the net to van Riemsdyk, who floated out in front with no defenders in his way and roofed it over Rask to chase him from the game.
The Bruins started to work their way back in late in the second period. Matt Grzelcyk made a tremendous pass to the slot to Sean Kuraly, who buried it to cut the lead to 4-2. Then, early in the third, Noel Acciari took advantage of a wild bounce and whacked the puck through Andersen to make it 4-3.
Boston dominated possession and shots on goal for the rest of regulation. But like Game 3, they couldn’t finish on enough opportunities to solve Andersen and close out the series.
Up Next: The Bruins take a 3-2 series lead to Toronto on Tuesday for Game 6.
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