BOSTON — The Bruins were not going to have a repeat of Saturday night when the Maple Leafs narrowly beat them at Scotiabank Arena.
Boston and Toronto met for the second half of its home-and-home Tuesday night at TD Garden and fought a back-and-forth battle for a majority of the game. The B’s drew first blood, but the Maple Leafs countered each time they scored with a goal of their own.
But it was the Bruins that came away with the 4-2 win after breaking two ties throughout the game.
Tuukka Rask, who was playing in his 500th NHL game, turned away 28 shots, while David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, Brett Ritchie and Par Lindholm accounted for Boston’s goals.
With the win, the Bruins moved to 6-1-2, while the Leafs fell to 5-4-2.
Here’s how it all went down:
PASTA SERVES UP 10TH GOAL
Tempers flared a bit in the first, with Torey Krug (5-foot-9) and Frederik Gauthier (6-foot-5) getting into a bit of a kerfuffle. After Krug was called for interference. Boston ultimately killed the penalty.
The B’s appeared to go up 1-0 when Pastrnak went bar down on Michael Hutchinson after a scramble in front of Toronto’s net. But the Leafs challenged the play as being offsides and were successful to keep the game scoreless.
The B’s went on the power play with 3:34 left in the opening 20 minutes on a Andreas Johnsson hooking call and Pastrnak made it count this time around. The winger scored an absurd goal, going between his legs before going five-hole on Hutchinson for the 1-0 lead with 2:45 to go in the first.
Boston held a slim 12-10 shot advantage at the end of the period.
TIED AT TWO
Toronto tied things up at one when Kasperi Kapanen connected on the one-timer to beat Rask just 4:23 into the second.
But it took just two minutes for the Bruins to take back their one-goal lead when Pastrnak dished the puck over to Brad Marchand, who slapped the puck home from the right slot to make it 2-1.
The Maple Leafs wouldn’t go away quietly, however, and tied things back up at 2-2 on the power play when Zdeno Chara went off for tripping. Alexander Kerfoot scored the unassisted tally with a snipe from the slot with 7:06 left to play in the second.
Boston had the man advantage in the final four minutes when Morgan Rielly was whistled for tripping, but was unable to capitalize and went into the second intermission tied at 2-2.
The B’s again had the shot advantage over the Maple Leafs with a 13-2 edge.
BOSTON SEALS IT
The secondary scoring, which has been struggling to begin the season, came up big in the third when it snapped the 2-2 tie.
Jake DeBrusk’s initial shot was blocked by Hutchinson, but the puck bounced right to Brett Ritchie’s stick who was able to score from the slot to make it 3-2 with 13:25 left to play.
The Bruins doubled their lead with 1:55 remaining when Boston created an odd-man rush when Sean Kuraly jumped out of the penalty box as his penalty expired. Hutchinson gave up the rebound off Kuraly’s initial shot which allowed Lindholm to bang home the goal.
UP NEXT
The Bruins get set for a Stanley Cup Final rematch Saturday night when they welcome the St. Louis Blues to Boston. Puck drop from TD Garden is set for 7 p.m. ET.
