Game 5: Bruins Look to Finish

No Auston Matthews in the house tonight, as the Boston Bruins look to eliminate the Toronto Maple Leafs from the playoffs.

Predictably, the Leafs skated hard out of the gate and put together some of the most-sustained 5-on-5 pressure that this series has seen, and it eventually resulted in Jake McCabe goal that gave Toronto its first lead of the series.

The Bruins pushed back and tied the game when Trent Frederic was left along in the slot and beat Joseph Woll, who had taken over in relief of Ilya Samsonov for the final period of Game 4.

Brandon Carlo to the penalty box with 5:07 left in the opening period for crosschecking Tyler Bertuzzi. Toronto to the powerplay …

A-I image by Daryl Vautour

The home crowd tonight has reinforced its hailing of Jeremy Swayman as the people’s choice, but the Bruins are being outshot 12-2 approaching the final minute of the first period. This is not sustainable. I don’t care if Terry Sawchuk is in the net in his prime.

David Pastrnak was stationed at the Toronto blue line, but a pass skipped his stick and the Bruins had a D-zone draw to win with 26.2 seconds left in the period. The Maple Leafs got possession, but the same problem with the ice tonight made the puck bounce on McCabe, forcing him offside, then in ensuing action nixed a chance Toronto had from the slot.

Shots after one period: 12-2 TO.

SECOND PERIOD

William Nylander trips Charlie McAvoy in front of the Boston net, putting the Bruins on the powerplay.

The Bruins get outworked on the first 55 seconds of the powerplay, as Pontus Holmberg puts on an exhibition.

Toronto gets the kill, and Swayman has to stop Nylander out of the box on a partial.

Pat Maroon gets the makeup interference call. TO to the PP …

In the second minute, Swayman stones John Tavares off the cross-ice feed.

Shots are now 16-3.

Bruins get a big chance, but Woll sticks out his left pad to reach a point shot headed for the right post.

Leafs’ Matthew Knies outworks the Bruins and sets up a relay that ends with a blast from the center point missing the left post. The Bruins then get two sidewall bounces, allowing Brad Marchand to pull up, pivot and fire a centering pass that Jesper Boqvist catches and pulls to his backhand. Save Woll.

The Bruins turned the puck over three times in their own end in the same run of play and were fortunate to escape harm.

The Bruins have picked up their game some in the second period, but the Leafs are pushing hard in hopes of a go-ahead goal.

Shots are 18-12 Toronto, counting the two the Bruins just put on Woll with exactly one minute remaining in the second.

The Bruins get too cute trying to move the puck out of their zone in the final minute, and the Maple Leafs put the puck to the net, causing a mad scramble. The scramble turns into a scrum, and penalties are doled out before it’s known that the puck ever crossed the goal line or not with Swayman laying on his back and mostly pushed inside his net.

No goal, but matching minors to Joel Edmundson and Charlie Coyle, who had locked horns, are augmented by an extra two minutes for Marchand who tried to fight Mitch Marner, who wasn’t taking the bait.

McAvoy was livid after getting ganged up on and was restrained by a referee.

The situation entering the third period is 1:38 remaining on Coyle’s penalty, which is being isolated as the odd minor.

Second-period shots: 11-10 Toronto, which has a 23-12 edge after two periods.

THIRD PERIOD

Tavares in the slot, save Swayman. Bruins get the kill.

Bruins push back and push hard, only Edmundson holds Coyle behind the Toronto net, no call forthcoming. Leafs do their best boxing out of the series, so the Boston chances in prime areas are precious.

Game is delayed for Woll to get a right-skate repair. The Leafs were coming out of their zone with the puck after withstanding more cycling pressure from Pavel Zacha, Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie.

This is Boston’s best hockey of the night line to line, by far.

The Bruins cycle, Holmberg interferes with Marchand and steals his stick, fights for it, Marchand gets it back but too late. Bruins keep the puck, Holmberg has Marchand down again away from the puck. Finally, both are sent to the penalty box. The NHL should be forced to listen to an endless loop of Jack Edwards’ call of that minute of play.

Toronto pushing back, and given the Bruins’ problems moving the puck out of their zone all night, one gets the feeling that some lumpy ice has taken at least a couple of scoring plays off the board for the talented Leafs. Is that the reason the Bruins are turning the puck over in their D zone? Ice may factor, but the Bruins have had ample chances to adjust and have still made decisions that have led to turnovers.

Coyle seemed to have made a nice play to keep a puck in the Toronto zone, but the Leafs got the bounce, Coyle took out Lindholm, then Max Domi and Tyler Bertuzzi had an all-day 2-on-1. Domi waited too long to make the cross-ice pass and Swayman ate up the shot.

As pro-wrestling, 1970s style as this game has gone, the Bruins are getting frustrated and showing a defeatist mentality on the ice. Time to re-energize if they want to pull this one out.

This game is going to overtime.

Shots for regulation: 30-24 Toronto.

FOURTH PERIOD

At 2:26, Knies bangs home the rebound of Tavares’ classic shield, sink the shoulder and skate hard to the post, and Toronto wins.

Drive safely everyone.