Boston’s Pavel Zacha, 18, celebrates one of his two third-period goals with Taylor Hall against the Maple Leafs at Toronto. Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP
With a 10-day vacation on their horizon, the Bruins decided to start it with smiles on their faces.
After losing three straight games the B’s looked like their old selves on Wednesday in Toronto, using a strong third period to leave the Maple Leafs in their dust in a 5-2 victory.
The B’s got two goals from defensemen, a fourth-line goal and two huge third-period tallies from Pavel Zacha to take their second straight from the Leafs.
After the B’s took a 3-1 lead early in the third period, the Leafs poured on the pressure and pulled back to within one at 8:38. A puck deflected off Connor Clifton in the slot and bounced right to Calle Jarnkrok and he scored on a quick put-back behind Linus Ullmark.
After the goal, Leaf pest Michael Bunting got into it with Charlie Coyle behind the net and the two were eventually sent off for matching roughing penalties.
Thirty seconds later on the four-on-four, the B’s had their two-goal lead back. Pavel Zacha maneuvered into the high slot with the puck and, with a clear look at the net, simply beat Ilya Samsonov with wrist shot over the glove.
Then with 7:41 left in regulation, the Czech line made it 5-2. David Pastrnak stole the puck from Rasmus Sandin, fed David Krejci in the left circle and then he found a wide open Zacha, who buried his 11th into an open net.
That finally took the life out of Scotiabank Arena. The second-place Leafs, now 13 points behind the B’s, didn’t even bother to pull the goalie.
The first period belonged to the goaltenders as Ullmark and Samsonov both faced numerous high-danger chances and both turned them all away.
The B’s had the good chances early, with Brandon Carlo getting thwarted on a weak side pinch and then Clifton was stoned by Samsonov on a clean breakaway.
The B’s got an early power play and, as has been the case too often lately, it stemmed their momentum a tad. They spent more time in the offensive zone than they did on their power plays in previous three games (0 for 12) but they were too cute with their passes and did not get enough pucks to the net.
Then it was Ullmark’s turn to keep it even. He made a terrific blocker stop on Rasmus Sandin and later, after the B’s got caught up ice, he made a great pad save on Pierre Engvall on a two-on-none with Sandin. The league initiated a review to see if the puck crossed the line after Clifton tried to put it in into Ullmark’s pads for a stoppage, but it was no goal.
Perhaps the best of all the chances came with about a minute left when Pastrnak went right through Morgan Rielly and had Samsonov down, but he could not lift it over Samsonov’s outstretched pad.
The Leafs held a 14-13 shot advantage in the first.
Toronto got its first power play early in the second period, and it was more self-sabotaging than the Bruins’ first man advantage. On the kill, Trent Frederic beat Mitch Marner for a loose puck in the Leafs’ zone and protected it behind the net until Coyle arrived to help. Frederic dished it to Coyle in the right circle and the centerman spotted Derek Forbort filling the high slot. Forbort buried a wrist shot past Samsonov at 6:57, the defenseman’s fourth tally and second short-handed goal of the year.
But when the Leafs were given a second chance on the power play on a Matt Grzelcyk elbowing call, they evened it up. The B’s were doing a good job of killing off the minor but when they went for a change on a clear, Samsonov made a heads-up pass up ice to Marner. Marner was able to move in close and he ripped a wrister past Ullmark at 9:25.
The B’s answered again at 12:33, and from an even more unlikely source. On a terrific grinding shift from the Coyle line, Hampus Lindholm fed his partner Carlo down low on the right side and, from a tough angle, the lanky defenseman somehow flipped it past Samsonov at 12:33 on the short side for his second goal of the season.
The B’s extended the lead at 2:13 of the third period with a fourth line goal. Jakob Lauko, called up from Providence on Tuesday, made a nice play in the defensive zone to win a puck along the boards and then send A.J. Greer off on a two-on-one. With David Kampf’s stick drape all over him, Greer sizzled a high, far side wrist shot that beat Samsonov for his fifth of the year and second against Toronto.
On the ensuing faceoff, Wayne Simmonds asked Greer to go and Greer accepted, taking a big right hand from Simmonds for his trouble.
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