Ek’s note: After covering the Bruins for Bruins Daily for parts of seven seasons, Anthony, a lifelong Bostonian comes to HockeyBuzz with a knowledge of all things Bruins. You can follow him on Twitter @a_travalgia. He will be adding coverage here along with Hockeybuzz veteran writer Ty Anderson.
If Wednesday’s contest between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs taught us anything it’s this: When the two meet in a winner-take-all Game 7, grab your popcorn, grab your preferred beverage and buckle in, you’re about to be taken on one heck of a ride.
Wednesday’s Game 7 between the Bruins and Leafs was an absolute roller coaster of a ride for both teams. But after the first six games of the series, a wild Game 7 should have been no surprise.
The game’s first 11 shots led to four goals. A pair of tallies for Toronto’s Patrick Marleau and goals by Bruins rookies Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen kicked things off with a bang.
Heinen’s goal was a special one for the Bruins, as well as the young rookie. Not only did it—for the time being—tie Game 7 at two, it came just one game after being a healthy scratch in the Bruins Game 6 loss in Toronto.
“Yeah, I think anytime you see it go in you get a little jump in your step, and that was a big goal for me and the team and just lucky enough to get it and keep moving forward here,… Heinen said of his first career playoff goal.
After erasing their second one-goal deficit of the first period, the Bruins took their first lead of the night with under a minute to go in the frame. Kevan Miller’s shot that was intentionally sent wide of the net found the stick of Patrice Bergeron after Bergeron pulled off some magic to disappear from the Maple Leafs sights.
“Yeah, I was trying to shoot wide… Miller said of the play. When I looked up at the last second, [James] van Riemsdyk was there so I tried to get it wide. And it took a fortunate bounce.…
As entertaining as the first period was, the second period was equally as miserable for the Bruins. In a period that saw the Bruins play arguably their worst period of the season, their lead was short lived. Travis Dermott’s first of the series 2:07 into the stanza tied the game at three.
Minutes later the Bruins found themselves on the power play with a golden opportunity to regain the lead when Torey Krug found himself all alone and a lot of open net to shoot at. Unfortunately for Krug, his shot found the left arm of Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Anderson. An ensuing mishap of the puck by Brad Marchand allowed Kasperi Kapanen to race in all alone on Tuukka Rask and Kapanen made the most of his opportunity, giving the Maple Leafs their third lead of the game.
What was just a promising moment, quickly became a deflating one. Despite outshooting the Leafs 13-6 in the middle period, the Bruins were fortunate to enter the third period down just one.
It was then that the Bruins saved their season with their best period of the series. 1:10 into the period, a faceoff win by Bergeron led to Torey Krug’s equalizer that sent the sold out TD Garden into a frenzy.
From there, DeBrusk decided the game would be his. Turning on the jets as he rushed down the right wing, the 21-year old drove to the net and snuck one past Anderson with a quick wrister. His second goal of the game was the icing on the cake for DeBrusk who was arguably the Bruins best forward in the seven games.
“It went pretty well, obviously with the win, um, it was special – something I’ll never forget. I’ll never forget this series just in general,… DeBrusk said.
Jake DeBrusk with a GRITTY goal to put the #NHLBruins ahead of the Maple Leafs 🔥🔥😨#StanleyCupPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/GJPp3r8Dyo
— Loose Change Podcast (@LooseChangePod) April 26, 2018
From DeBrusk’s second of night on, the Maple Leafs never had a chance. The Bruins clogged the middle and made things tough for Toronto. They kept the scoring chances to a minimum, all while keeping the pressure in the Maple Leafs zone high. The pressure in the attacking zone once again paid off with David Pastrnak’s insurance goal, his fifth of the series. The Bruins would go on to add one more with Marchand’s empty net goal.
If you hadn’t watched a single second of Boston Bruins hockey until the third period of Game 7 Wednesday night, in just 20 minutes of play you were shown the story of the 2017-18 Boston Bruins. Trailing, only to come back and win the game. Goals by rookies, goals by veterans and goaltending by Rask that was enough to keep you in the game, and enough to eventually win it.
There’s no denying the Bruins weren’t great in this series, but they weren’t bad either. Sure, they should have been nowhere near a Game 7 after jumping out to a 3-2 series lead. But it’s the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Bruins did what they had to do to advance.
A series with the Maple Leafs in my opinion is as tough of a series as the Bruins will see until—if they get there—the Stanley Cup Final where a very difficult Winnipeg Jets, Nashville Predators or Vegas Golden Knights club will most likely await.
Stat of the night: With Wednesday’s victory, Adam McQuaid is now 5-0 lifetime in Game 7.
Up next: Saturday the Bruins will travel to Tampa Bay for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Puck drops at 3:00PM.