3 Stars: Bruins stay relentless vs. Maple Leafs

The Bruins began Saturday night in Toronto not only down three lineup regulars, with Charlie McAvoy (personal) and Casey Mittelstadt (lower body) joining Elias Lindholm as lineup departures, but also down early.

For the second straight game (and for the eighth time this season), the Bruins allowed their opponent to score within their first three shots of the game, with the Leafs taking a 1-0 lead on their second shot of the night.

But the Black and Gold wasted no time in responding to that goal with two goals on their first two shots the other way. And really put forth a relentless attack on the Maple Leafs all game long on the way to their sixth straight win.

"It's always not easy [in Toronto], especially when you are missing a few guys, too,” B's coach Marco Sturm said following the win. “But we stuck with our game and just like I told the guys, for me it was a very impressive win."

With the win, the Bruins are on their longest win streak since opening the 2023-24 season on a six-game streak.

Here's a look at the 985TheSportsHub.com 3 Stars of the game...

A healthy scratch for the last five games, the absence of Charlie McAvoy gave Bruins defenseman Mason Lohrei a chance he otherwise would not have gotten in this game. And Lohrei, having to be patient for probably far longer than he thought he would have to, made it count.

Finishing this contest with 14:49 of time on ice, Lohrei put forth a game that featured two assists, including one on the Mikey Eyssimont power-play goal that ultimately gave the Bruins a lead they would not relinquish. In addition to the helpers, Lohrei had a plus-2 rating, one hit, one block, and a shot on goal.

The biggest change, of course, also came with Lohrei's deployment, as the Bruins relented and did not utilize him as a top-pairing defenseman.

Playing opposite Jonathan Aspirot on Boston's third pairing, instead, Lohrei was deployed in more offensive-minded situations, and the Bruins outshot the Maple Leafs by an 8-2 mark during Lohrei's five-on-five deployment. That also meant that Lohrei saw a lot of Toronto's third line, which was a nice and more suitable change of pace opposed to the top-line matchups Lohrei had been given skating with McAvoy for the majority of the year.

The Maple Leafs were pained to not just trade Fraser Minten, but send him to the rival Bruins, in the deadline deal that brought them Brandon Carlo. Minten had a lot of backers in the Leafs organization, and he was generally regarded as the second-best prospect in the Toronto system.

But those feelings aside didn't make this any less of a revenge game for Minten, who made his return to Toronto count in a major way, with the insurance marker that sealed the deal on a Boston win.

Along with the goal, Minten went 4-for-7 at the faceoff dot, and with all four of those wins coming in the offensive zone. Minten also went 2-for-2 against the Leafs' Auston Matthews at the dot, and added a block and two shots.

After the game, Sturm said he thought Minten was his team's best player, and praised Minten for how 'calm' he played in this contest.

Going down early was not going to be a death sentence for the Bruins in this contest, obviously. The Bruins have shown a willingness to fight and compete until the final horn again and again this season. But Morgan Geekie deciding that the Bruins were going to respond just 18 seconds after Toronto's game-opening tally felt like one of those true momentum-shifting markers.

And it was not the only time we'd hear from Geekie, as he also had an assist on the David Pastrnak strike that held as the game-winning goal in this contest.

It was an all around excellent game for Geekie, too, as he also won all four of his battles at the dot (three of those wins coming in the attacking zone), while the Bruins outshot Toronto 15-7 with Geekie on the ice at five-on-five play.