James Reimer did not appear intimidated in the first playoff experience of his NHL career, but through the first four games of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against the Boston Bruins, he had not made a monumental save that swung momentum in his team’s favor.
That all changed in the second period of Friday’s game at TD Garden, as Reimer's acrobatic right toe stoned Boston’s Patrice Bergeron to keep the critical Game 5 scoreless. Less than two minutes later, after the Leafs netminder stymied Tyler Seguin during a Bruins power play, Tyler Bozak sped by defenseman Andrew Ference and scored on a shorthanded breakaway to give Toronto the lead and put a road block in Boston clinching the best of seven series.
Clarke MacArthur scored the eventual game winner early in the third and Boston behemoth Zdeno Chara narrowed the lead with almost half of the third period remaining, but the story of the night was Reimer, who made 43 saves in a hard fought 2-1 Leafs victory.
The Leafs played desperate and energetic hockey facing elimination, pelting Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask with 19 first period shots, but the tide turned in the middle frame, as the Bruins outshot Toronto 17-10 and had the better of the scoring chances.
Toronto’s team speed was directly responsible for both goals, as Bozak got by a flatfooted Ference to score his first career playoff goal and MacArthur intercepted Johnny Boychuk’s head man pass and flew past the Bruins defenseman to score his second goal in as many games, while also having a positive effect overall, as the addition of more mobility on the blueline with John-Michael Liles and Jake Gardiner appeared to somewhat neutralize Boston’s ability to mount a forecheck until the latter part of the game.
The Leafs had a psychological advantage going into the game, as they knew that they had to open the throttle wide and give all they had to play another game, while the Boston’s motivation was simply to put Toronto away and get a few days rest before embarking on the next round of the playoffs. When Boston fell behind midway through the second, the Bruins clearly kicked their game into another gear and for most of the final 13 minutes of the game, the puck was trapped in the Toronto zone.
Reimer made 18 saves in the third period and preserved the victory with a point blank stop on future Hall of Famer Jaromir Jagr, as the puck went wide after going off the shaft of Reimer’s goal stick with 11.1 seconds left.
With the victory, Toronto lives to fight another day in front of their fans at the Air Canada Center and hope that the success of Game 5 will carry them to victory in Game 6 Sunday night and a trip back to Boston for Game 7 on Monday, but as the Leafs did on Friday in Boston, the Bruins will likely come out early in Game 6 and quash whatever momentum the Leafs have from their victory.
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