BOSTON – Patrice Bergeron scored a power-play goal early in the third period and Tuukka Rask stopped 33 shots, lifting the Boston Bruins to a 3-1 win over Toronto on Saturday night in the teams’ first meeting since their playoff series last spring.
Bergeron also added an empty-netter with 22 seconds to play, and Zdeno Chara also had a power-play goal for Boston. The Bruins won for only the third time in seven games.
Joffrey Lupul scored for the Maple Leafs, who lost for just the second time in six games.
In Game 7 of the opening round of the last season’s Eastern Conference playoffs, Boston trailed by three goals with a little over 10 minutes left before forcing overtime – with the final two goals coming 31 seconds apart in the closing 90 seconds of regulation. Bergeron scored the game winner in OT, capping an improbable comeback.
On Saturday, skating during the closing part of James van Riemsdyk’s double-minor penalty for high-sticking Johnny Boychuk late in the second period, Bergeron jumped in on a rebound in front and fired it past sprawling goaltender James Reimer 1:06 into the final period.
Winger Carl Soderberg backhanded the puck on net from near the bottom of the right circle.
Reimer made 31 saves.
Boston killed off a penalty late in the game when Soderberg was sent off for holding the stick. The Maple Leafs went 0 for 3 on the power play.
The Bruins had grabbed a 1-0 lead on Chara’s power-play goal off a rebound 15:27 into the opening period. David Krejci won the faceoff back to defenceman Torey Krug, who sent a cross-ice pass to Jarome Iginla. The winger slipped a backhand on net that Chara, positioned in front, banged past Reimer before two Maple Leafs defenceman could clear the puck.
If it wasn’t for solid play by Reimer it could have been a bigger deficit for Toronto. Boston outshot the Maple Leafs 14-7 in the opening period, keeping the puck in the offensive zone for long stretches.
Bruins winger Chris Kelly fired a shot off the crossbar 90 seconds into the game and Reimer made nice stops on close bids by Krug and Iginla about 20 seconds apart 5 minutes into the game.
But in the second period, the Maple Leafs outshot Boston 18-10 and controlled play for lengthy stretches.
Toronto tied the game at 1 on Lupul’s goal late in the second. Paul Ranger sent a long clearing pass to Lupul, who broke in down the right wing before firing a shot that beat Rask over his left shoulder, slipping the puck just inside the right post.
There were a fairly large number of blue Maple Leafs’ home jerseys sprinkled throughout the stands, and a big roar went up when Lupul scored.
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