It nearly got out of hand, but the Boston Bruins tied their first-round series 2-2 with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.
The B’s had a two-goal edge going into the third period and upped it to three with a goal from Zdeno Chara, but the Leafs brought the game within one when they potted two goals in 1:35. Toronto pulled Frederik Andersen, but it couldn’t capitalize with the extra skater.
Joakim Nordstrom netted an empty-net goal with two seconds left in the game to seal the 6-4 win and tie the series with the Bruins coming back to Boston for Game 5.
The Black and Gold looked like a different team than in Game 4, and head coach Bruce Cassidy was happy with how the B’s were able to capitalize on Frederik Andersen giving up a lot of rebounds.
“He’s a good goaltender. We know that,” he said, as seen on NESN’s “Bruins Overtime Live.” “But he’ll allow some rebounds and that’s where I think Toronto can be exposed. … And sure enough we were able to do that a few times.”
The head coach also was happy with his team’s execution, adding despite “ebbs and flows,” Boston was able to come out on top.
“I liked our execution … did a lot of things well there offensively. Obviously they scored four so they were doing some good things too with the puck,” Cassidy said. “But at the end of the day we were one better. … That’s where it starts, especially when you lose the previous game, you gotta let them know you’re gonna push back. We did. We had ebbs and flows but eventually we did what we had to do to get the win.”
Cassidy also shook up his lines a bit during the game, and said it came down to trying to play behind Toronto’s defense, and forced Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak to shoot more than they’d normally pass.
“Well you gotta play behind their D … and force them into turnovers,” Cassidy said.”… It’s physical, they’re on the puck. At the end of the day I liked that part of it. I liked the fact that we shot more. I think those two were passing a little too often. You wanna give them their creativity but this time of year maybe the ice gets a little heavier, you just get it to the net and force (Andersen) to make saves.”
Here are some other notes from Wednesday’s Bruins-Maple Leafs Game 4:
— The fourth line really struggled Wednesday night, and Cassidy didn’t hold back on his thoughts on them.
Sean Kuraly suffered a broken right hand in March and missed the end of the regular season and has been absent from Boston’s first four playoff games. Fortunately, he’s on the mend and a possibility for Game 5 at TD Garden, which would provide a huge boost to that fourth line.
— Tuukka Rask made 38 stops in the win, and climbed up the ranks in B’s history.
— Zdeno Chara also joined some good company with his third-period goal.
— David Pastrnak continued to do damage against the Leafs with his two-goal night.
The winger has 16 goals and 30 points over his last 18 games against Toronto.
