Once sliding to the tune of three straight defeats, the Bruins will ride into the All-Star break on a high thanks to a big victory over the rival Maple Leafs on Wednesday night in Toronto.

OK, perhaps I’m laying it on a little bit thick. I mean, even with the Bruins’ recent slide, there was no chance of Jim Montgomery’s squad rolling into a well-earned break feeling anything other than confident given their status as the league’s best team, with a seven-point edge over the next closest team (the Hurricanes).

Beating the Maple Leafs is always good for a Black and Gold soul, though, and Wednesday night was no exception.

In what was a largely back-and-forth game, the Bruins and Leafs traded punches, and even found themselves engaged in a one-goal game in the third period behind a goal-trading of sorts from the Bruins’ A.J. Greer and Toronto’s Calle Järnkrok.

But with a heavy boost from a reunion on the second line, and in just a 3:11 stretch of action, the Bruins put an end to their losing skid and captured back-to-back wins over the Leafs for the first time since the 2018-19 season.

Here are the 98.5 The Sports Hub (dot com) 3 Stars of the game from a 5-2 win in Toronto…

• No. 3 Star: Brandon Carlo

  

  TORONTO, CANADA- FEBRUARY 1 : Brandon Carlo #25 of the Boston Bruins celebrates a goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on February 1, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario. (Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

• Speaking at his stall a couple weeks back and discussing the recent scoring surge from the backend, Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo admitted that he couldn’t wait to “get his cookies.”

  Well, the cookies were flowing Wednesday night in Toronto, as the 6-foot-6 Carlo scored his second goal of the season with a second-period chip through the Leafs’ Ilya Samsonov.

  For Carlo, the goal was a definite ‘make good’ after Mitch Marner torched the Boston penalty kill for a goal just three minutes prior, and continued a second-period of defensive scoring with Derek Forbort scoring the Black and Gold’s first goal of the game (and with the Bruins down a man).

• Brando brought it 💯 pic.twitter.com/65WeVSDE6U

  — Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 2, 2023

• “Those are always nice for me since I’m not a huge goal scorer,” Carlo said after the victory. “It definitely adds a little bit of a boost of confidence throughout that game .. That one felt nice.

  “We all want to contribute in that aspect when we can. It’s great when you do get the result from it and I think it gives the rest of the guys a boost as well. We want to be a great support system for the guys who are scoring all the time.”

  In stats that you probably can’t really explain, the Bruins are 11-3-1 since 2019-20 when Carlo scores.

• No. 2 Star: Linus Ullmark

  

  Feb 1, 2023; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) makes a save against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the first period at Scotiabank Arena. (John E. Sokolowski/USA TODAY Sports)

• Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark simply refuses to slow down.

  Back in net ahead of his upcoming trip down to Sunrise for the 2023 NHL All-Star Game, Ullmark continued his dazzling season with a 33-of-35 performance in the Boston goal. Ullmark was also credited with stops on all but one of the 11 high-danger shots that the Leafs threw at him in this contest.

  Ullmark’s success against Toronto has sort of gone under the radar this year — at least by the standard he’s set for himself with a downright ridiculous year — but it’s the work in the ‘high-danger’ realm that’s been especially impressive, as Ullmark has turned aside 24 of the 28 high-danger shots he’s faced from Leaf shooters this year.

  The 6-foot-5 Ullmark heads into the break leading the NHL in wins (26), goals against average (1.90), and save percentage (.937), and is the clear-cut Vezina Trophy favorite.

• Linus Ullmark against the seven other teams currently in the East playoff structure: 8-3-0 record, .921 save percentage, .843 high-danger save percentage.

  — Ty Anderson (@_TyAnderson) February 2, 2023

• No. 1 Star: Pavel Zacha

  

  Feb 1, 2023; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Boston Bruins forward Pavel Zacha (18) skates against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the third period at Scotiabank Arena. (John E. Sokolowski/USA TODAY Sports)

• If the post-extension run for Pavel Zacha is any indication of what long-term security means to a Bruin, perhaps Bruins general manager Don Sweeney should consider signing everybody to a contract extension.

  Inked to a multi-year deal following the team’s Jan. 14 win over the Maple Leafs, Zacha continued what’s been a three-week ride to remember, with two goals on a team-high six shots in Wednesday’s victory.

  That brings Zacha’s post-extension total up to six goals (third-most in hockey) and 10 points (tied with 12 players for the 10th-most in hockey) in nine games played. Security? Security.

• The first of two darts for the man 🎯 pic.twitter.com/H3Bq0NRbE2

  — Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 2, 2023

• These were some straight-up big goals from Zacha, too, as the first came a mere 30 seconds after the Leafs gave themselves some life with a strike that brought them back within one, while the second one was a straight-up ‘game over’ kind of marker from the 25-year-old forward.

  And Zacha continues to look like an absolute steal for the Bruins, all things considered, as he’s now just one point away from tying his previous career-high of 36 (set last season in New Jersey), and is now just six goals away from matching his career-high of 17, which was set during the pandemic-delayed 2021 campaign.

  All in a one-for-one swap for Erik Haula.

• Since signing his extension, Pavel Zacha is up to six goals and 10 points in nine games. A top-20 scorer in the NHL over that stretch. Third-most goals in NHL, top 20 in points. Sweenius at work again, it would appear.

  — Ty Anderson (@_TyAnderson) February 2, 2023

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