The Toronto Maple Leafs had all the momentum heading into Sunday afternoon’s tilt at Scotiabank Arena, and it manifested early in Game 6.
On the brink of elimination in their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series, the Boston Bruins found themselves in an early deficit against their Atlantic Divison rival. Morgan Rielly’s one-timer put the Leafs up 1-0 near the halfway point of the first period, which sent Toronto fans into an absolute frenzy.
How did the Bruins respond? By scoring three unanswered goals en route to a hard-fought 4-2 road victory. Boston never lost its composure after going down early. Instead, the B’s stayed the course, played their best brand of hockey and forced a Game 7 back on home ice.
“After that first one, we just got together,” Brad Marchand said. “We knew that there was a lot of game left. We got a lot of character in the group, we’ve shown that all year. Have come from behind a lot this year. We weren’t fazed. We came together. We played very hard after that. We played a really good game, so we have to give ourselves some credit here. But the game’s over, gotta let it go and get ready for the next one.”
Marchand was influential in the Bruins’ Game 6 win. The star winger evened the score less than two minutes after Rielly’s game-opening strike and put the contest on ice with an empty-net tally in crunch time. It was a three-point day in all for Marchand, who also assisted on Torey Krug’s go-ahead goal late in the first period.
The Bruins’ three losses in this series largely have been due to their star players being silenced. But when it was gut-check time for Boston on Sunday, Marchand and Co. rose to the occasion and then some.
