After letting a 3-2 lead slip with six seconds remaining, the Boston Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 4-3 overtime win, thanks to Brad Marchand’s winning goal in the dying seconds of the extra period.
Brad Marchand scored with eight seconds left in overtime to lift the Boston Bruins to a 4-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
After Marchand pinned down William Nylander to leave David Pastrnak open on a breakaway, Toronto goalie Joseph Woll made the initial stop, and Pastrnak missed high on a tight-angled rebound. With the puck in the air and the net empty, Marchand quickly got the puck down with his hand and slammed in the winning tally.
Pastrnak had a goal and two assists, and Linus Ullmark made 37 saves for the Bruins, who improved to 16-4-3 with their second consecutive win. Kevin Shattenkirk scored his first goal of the season in the second period.
The Bruins were six seconds away from winning 3-2 in regulation, but Mitch Marner connected with Auston Matthews, who sent a one-timer past Ullmark to force the game to overtime.
The two sides traded chances in overtime, with Woll stoning Pavel Zacha on a breakaway at 1:53, followed by a William Nylander wrister stopped by Ullmark at 2:05, then a Woll save on Pastrnak at 2:15.
All told, there were 16 total shots on goal, with Boston taking a clear 11-5 advantage, salvaging the victory after coming close to replicating their 5-4 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Nov. 20, when Steven Stamkos forced overtime with five seconds left on the 6-on-5.
The Maple Leafs hemmed Boston in their zone for the better part of the first five minutes of the game, but the Bruins started to get into the flow, and Pastrnak opened the scoring at 10:44 with a precision snipe from 43 feet out, splitting Toronto defensemen Morgan Rielly and TJ Brodie to beat Woll at the top left corner.
Pastrnak’s precision boosted the Bruins lead to 2-0, this time on a cross-ice feed to Kevin Shattenkirk, who was streaking up the zone and beat Woll on a backhand at 7:31 of the second period.
Matthews cut the deficit to 2-1 for Toronto at 12:06 of the second, finishing off a Leafs onslaught following a failed clearance from Charlie McAvoy.
Max Domi tied it 2-2 at 2:12 of the third period, after Shattenkirk turned the puck over at the offensive blue line, leading to an odd-man rush the other way that Domi finished off at the net front.
Frederic put Boston ahead 3-2 at 13:10. Morgan Geekie dropped the puck back to Derek Forbort, who unleashed a shot from the point, and Frederic drove in to poke the rebound through.