Marchand scores late in OT to lift Bruins to 4-3 win over Maple Leafs
TORONTO (AP) — Brad Marchand scored at 4:52 of overtime as the Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 on Saturday night.
David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists, and Trent Frederic and Kevin Shattenkirk also scored for Boston. Linus Ullmark made 37 saves for the Bruins, who have won two in a row after three straight regulation losses.
Marchand’s winner came after William Nylander fell in the neutral zone. Pastrnak was denied on a breakaway by Woll, but the puck found its way back in front for the Boston captain to bury his eighth goal of the season to snap an eight-game goal-scoring drought.
“Great handle by him,” Pastrnak said. “So happy for him ... Always fun to win. Especially here.”
Auston Matthews scored twice and Max Domi also had a goal for Toronto. Joseph Woll stopped 33 shots.
“Hard-played hockey game,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Not your typical early December hockey game.”
Woll made a breakaway stop on Pavel Zacha in OT and Ullmark denied Marner from in close to set up Marchand’s dramatic clincher.
Toronto tied the score with 6 seconds left in regulation when Matthews scored his second of the night and 16th of the season.
“Two competitive teams,” Matthews said. “They’ve been the class of the league the last two years … could have went either way.”
Boston opened the scoring at 10:45 of the first period when Pastrnak dashed over the Toronto blue line and rifled his 14th goal over Woll’s shoulder to become the first player to score 50 times in the 2023 calendar year.
Matthews hit the post early in the second before Pastrnak found a pinching Shattenkirk with a perfect diagonal pass in the offensive zone for the defenseman to roof his first with the Bruins at 7:31 to make it 2-0.
Matthews got the Maple Leafs on the scoreboard with 7:54 remaining in the middle period when he scored his 15th with Ullmark out of position and Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy trying to play goal on a scramble.
“He was a beast out there,” Keefe said of Matthews, who had one goal in his previous nine games. “He was all over the puck.”
Domi, who’s father Tie was a Toronto fan favorite, then scored his first with the Maple Leafs at 2:11 of the third after taking a pass from Nick Robertson and moving in all alone on Ullmark to tie it 2-2.
“Feels good to contribute,” Domi said. “But that (stuff’s) irrelevant when you don’t win.”
Frederic put the Bruins ahead 3-2 with 6:50 left when he poked home a rebound for his sixth after Derek Forbort took the initial shot.
Toronto goalie Ilya Samsonov sat out with an illness. Martin Jones was recalled from the AHL on an emergency basis to serve as Woll’s backup.
Maple Leafs captain John Tavares now has 996 career points after picking up an assist.
UP NEXT
Bruins: At Columbus on Sunday night.
Maple Leafs: At Ottawa on Thursday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
