BOSTON — Defense led both teams in a battle of the netminders at the TD Garden on Saturday night when the Boston Bruins stymied the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Boston struck twice in the final period with just minutes remaining. The winning goal came from the Bruins defense and goaltender Tuukka Rask stopped all 22 shots he faced en route to the 2-0 victory.
“Most of the game was 5-on-5, a lot of battles. Everybody tried to stay patient and disciplined,” defenseman Zdeno Chara explained. “It was kind of a waiting game, ‘Who’s going to crack first?’ and one play pretty much decided the game.”
It was the Bruins captain who decided it. At 16:17 in the third period, Chara’s vicious slap shot ignited the Garden, scoring on near-perfect goaltender James Reimer. Chara’s shot was set up by defenseman Zach Trotman and left winger Matt Beleskey.
“It’s really exciting, anytime you can play in a tight game like that, you really get emotionally invested in the game,” Trotman said. “You never want to lose.”
In the last minute of the game, Toronto opted for an extra man, attempting to tie things up, and pulled Reimer. Boston led the puck possession though, and with just 6.5 seconds left, center Brad Marchand sealed the Leafs’ fate with an empty netter.
The win advances Boston to 8-5-0 when they score first this season, while the Maple Leafs drop to 3-9-2 when they’ve allowed the first goal. The two scoreless periods marked the first time this season Boston entered the third period without at least two goals in the first two periods combined.
“I think we had to work really hard to get this win,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. “Obviously, Reimer was extremely good.”
Reimer, who stopped 35 shots on 36 attempts, extended his streak of consecutive periods with one goal or less to 24 periods, but dropped to 5-1-0 in his last six games. Despite the loss, Toronto now has an impressive eight-game streak of not allowing a first period goal.
Despite his solid performance, Reimer was disappointed.
“You just stand in there and try to read (the shots). Unfortunately tonight I read (that shot) wrong,” Reimer said. “It’s obvious (Chara) has got a good shot, he’s got a pretty hard shot. But I think it’s one that … other people may think differently, but I think I’m good enough to stop it and so it’s unfortunate that it slipped through.”
Julien explained that Rask was a deciding factor for the Bruins, despite not having to save as many shots.
“Even if he didn’t face as many shots, I thought that Tuukka made big saves, (on) a couple of breakaways and a couple of breakdowns in that second period. He came up big.”
Two of those breakaways came from Toronto center Shawn Matthias, who nearly scored on Rask twice.
“We had our chances,” Matthias said. “They’re a good team. They’re a tough team. They’re good heavy down low and they’ve got guys that have won Stanley Cups. So they’ve been successful, they know how to win. It’s frustrating giving up the loss late in the game like that.”
The Bruins’ offense, boasting the Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Jimmy Hayes top line, looked strong in the first, outshooting Toronto 14-7. After tripping left winger James Van Riemsdyk, Marchand and the winger got into a scuffle, landing Marchand in the penalty box with a roughing charge at 15:46.
The Bruins killed the penalty, squashing the Maple Leafs’ hopes of scoring. Toronto was unable to register a shot on goal with the man-advantage. The Bruins couldn’t capitalize on their lone power play in the third either, a high-sticking call on center Nazem Kadri, making both teams perfect on the penalty kill for the game. Neither team had any other opportunities for special teams in the game.
Despite not scoring, the Bruins put 14 shots on the net in the first period. Toronto’s offense never came close, their highest tally came in the second period and Boston still outshot them 10-9. The Bruins’ first line was their biggest near-producer, tallying 11 of the game’s 37 shots.
“I didn’t like our first period,” Toronto head coach Mike Babcock said. “I didn’t think we were competitive enough. I thought we were way better in the second period, and I thought they pushed a little bit in the third.”
The Bruins and the Maple Leafs will meet again on Monday night, but Toronto will have the home-ice advantage. It will be the second meeting of five this season.
“It’s almost like a mini-series,” Reimer said of facing Boston a second time in less than 48 hours. “Obviously it’s not fun to lose in the last couple of minutes of the game, so I think we’re going to come out firing on Monday and it should be a good one.”