TORONTO — Jim Montgomery had a feeling he might see something special from his captain as early as Wednesday’s morning skate at Scotiabank Arena.
“He started barking the first drill before (the start of the skate). I said, ‘it’s three minutes early.’ He goes, ‘Lets’ go!’ I loved it,” said the Bruins coach with a laugh.
And at a crucial time in a crucial playoff game, Brad Marchand delivered in Boston’s 4-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs to give the B’s a 2-1 series lead as they regained home ice advantage. He had two goals and an assist in the third period and had a hand in the B’s other goal that had the Leafs and their fans griping.
In other words, it was a Brad Marchand kind of game. How many ways did Marchand lead?
“In every way possible, I guess,” said Charlie Coyle. “His play, yeah, that’s one, with him chipping in scoring-wise. Battling, just not backing down and his leadership on the bench, just the way he talks, the way he keeps us engaged in what we need to do in that given situation and whatever it calls for. He’s always on top of that. It’s goes beyond his play on the ice, which was exceptional tonight.”
In a thrilling, gutty playoff victory, Marchand, who’d already assisted on Jake DeBrusk’s power-play goal earlier in the period, scored the eventual game-winner at 11:53 of the third period, a shortside snipe just 18 seconds after the Leafs tied it up and had the crowd buzzing, an absolute dagger of a goal. Fittingly, he finished it off with an empty-netter.
“It’s not given that you get the opportunity to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs,” said a reflective Marchand, who passed Cam Neely for the B’s lead in playoff game-winning goals with 12. “I kind of woke up with that gratitude of being excited and understanding that it’s a gift to play in this league and playoffs is something that we dream about as kids and I talk to my kids about it and their dreams of playing at this level. To realize we’re living it, I just kind of woke up with that gratitude that we’re lucky to be here. You want to make the most of this opportunity.”
He did make the most of it, as did Jeremy Swayman, who stopped 28 of 30 shots, including 13 in the third period. He’s now 5-0 against the Leafs this season and, with two days off, you have to wonder if Montgomery will break up the rotation with Linus Ullmark. Swayman certainly sounded ready to go again.
“For me personally, I don’t want rest. I just want to keep playing,” said Swayman when asked of the rotation had been beneficial to him. “I think no matter when I get the call, whether it’s back-to-back or every other game, I want to make sure my body’s ready and make sure I’m at my best.”
After a scoreless first period, Auston Matthews had a couple of good opportunities early in the second period. The first one came when Mason Lohrei stepped up in the neutral zone, couldn’t get the puck and gave the Leafs a 2-on-1. Matthews kept it and pinged the far post. His second chance came on a power play with David Pastrnak in the box for hooking on a back check. Swayman stoned him on a wide-open shot from the right circle. A monster in Game 2, Matthews delivered eight hits but was 0-0-0 on the scoresheet.
But the Leafs finally broke the ice at 13:10. After Pastrnak had a shot blocked, it produced a big rebound and a 3-on-2 for the Leafs. Matthew Knies finished off the play, tapping home Mitch Marner’s pretty pass for the 1-0 lead.
The B’s hadn’t been getting many chances in the second, but shortly after the goal, James van Riemsdyk had a breakaway. Making his first appearance in the series, van Riemsdyk tried to tuck it between Samsonov’s pads but the netminder closed them in time.
Then the refs put the whistles away, to the B’s benefit. First, McAvoy slammed Matthews to the ice behind the B’s net, no call.
Then Marchand and Bertuzzi were battling each other in the middle of the ice, a gloves-on scrap that that had the attention of the entire crowd. Samsonov must have had one eye on it, too, because as the tiff was going on the crowd was screaming for the refs to something, anything on Marchand, Trent Frederic beat the netminder with a long-range shot from the left wing with 2:23 remaining in the period.
Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe gave Marchand a vinegar-laced kudo after the game.
“I don’t think there’s another player in this series who gets away with taking out Bertuzzi’s legs that way that he does,” said Keefe. “It’s an art and he’s elite at it.”
The locals were not happy.
Shortly after that, with the crowd still in an uproar, the refs called a makeup rouging penalty on McAvoy. But even then, the Leafs couldn’t take advantage as Bertuzzi wiped it out with a high-stick on Charlie Coyle, and the B’s played keep away on the delayed call to gain as much PP time at the start of the third period.
That would give the B’s a power play to start the second and the B’s took their first lead of the game at 1:07. Marchand came out of a pileup on the right boards with the puck and got a shot on net that Samsonov stopped. But with three Leafs still over at the boards, Jake DeBrusk had time to gather the rebound and score his third goal of the series.
The Leafs got a second cheapo call when Lohrei was whistled for hooking Matthews on what looked like a clean check. On the kill, Swayman made two huge saves on Bertuzzi right off the bat and the B’s killed it off.
But they could not hold the lead as the Leafs tied it on pinball goal with 8:35 remaining in the third when Morgan Rielly’s shot went off Bertuzzi’s skate, then Hampus Lindholm’s shin and in.
Just 18 seconds later, the B’s captain gave his team the lead again, sniping a shot from the right circle for the 3-2 lead.
On the late 6-on-5, John Tavares took a holding call and, with Toronto net empty on the PP, Marchand banged home the exclamation mark of a goal.
