BOSTON — A.J. Greer has never played in the postseason in his NHL career.
But the Bruins’ fourth-line forward got a taste of what it will be like Saturday night when Boston earned an exhilarating win over the rival Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3, at TD Garden in a back-and-forth game featuring a playoff-like atmosphere that was decided with a goal from Matt Grzelcyk with 1:16 left.
“I haven’t played in playoffs in the NHL, but I can definitely feel it through the building, on the bench,” said Greer, who notched his first goal since Oct. 18 in the win. “…It’s a tough thing to do to come back and be resilient, but we have a resilient group and we have a tight group. It was a great win, rewarding win in front of our fans. It’s Bruins hockey. It’s electric.”
Patrice Bergeron, who has experienced postseason hockey plenty in Boston, agreed with Greer’s assessment that the matchup against the Maple Leafs had more juice than the average regular-season meeting.
“The energy was there. The fans were engaged, we were engaged on both sides,” Bergeron said. “Those are tough games that we are going to see down the road, and probably so in the playoffs. I thought it was a great game. It was fun to be a part of it and it was two good teams going at it.”
With the two Original Six rivals getting together on the ice and their proximity in the standings with the Bruins and Maple Leafs occupying the top two spots in the Atlantic Division, there was plenty of animosity between the two.
Nick Foligno and Wayne Simmonds dropped the gloves less than three minutes into the first period and there were plenty of words exchanged at the end of the second period when the two teams stayed on the ice for a little while after the horn sounded.
It was all just a part of what felt like a preview of what could come this spring.
“I thought every period the intensity ratcheted up and especially in the third,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “It was great. Crowd was into it. Two elite teams in the league going at it, and it was really good hockey.”
Here are more notes from Saturday’s Bruins-Maple Leafs game:
— Grzelcyk stepped into the phone booth and put on his cape to notch the game-winner with just over a minute left in regulation. It was just the second goal of the season for Grzelcyk as he got some help from both Taylor Hall and Brandon Carlo on the play as they both registered assists.
“(Grzelcyk) best game of the year,” Montgomery said. “He was unreal defensively and offensively and I’m glad he got rewarded. He’s been really good here ever since we went on the West Coast trip.”
— It’s become almost a mantra for the Bruins not to lose two games in a row and they avoided that exact scenario after dropping their previous game to the Seattle Kraken. Boston is now 9-0-0 coming off a loss and resiliency is engrained in the Bruins’ identity this season.
“I think it’s been established ever since I’ve been here,” Grzelcyk said of not losing consecutive games. “We’ve had such great leaders over the years. … Ever since I’ve been part of the Bruins culture, it’s always been deeply rooted. It’s something we take a lot of pride in.”
— Linus Ullmark wasn’t his sharpest as he turned aside only 18 shots, but many of the saves he did record were worthy of a highlight reel. The veteran netminder and Vezina candidate made perhaps the save of the season in the second period when he absolutely robbed Mark Giordano with an incredible glove save right along the goal line.
— The Bruins cap their three-game homestand with a matinee contest Monday against Philadelphia Flyers. Puck drop is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus 30 minutes of pregame coverage, on NESN.
