Maple Leafs 1-Bruins 2 (P) | The Bruins win in a landslide

A match number 7 between two natural rivals, two original teams moreover, could only end with a goal in overtime. Saturday night, as has often been the case in the last decade, the Boston Bruins had the advantage over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Thirty-one shots on goal on each side, 43 cumulative shots blocked, a total of 109 hits and a 1-1 tie after 60 minutes. The ultimate duel between the Bruins and the Leafs lived up to expectations. Furious, intense and unpredictable.

Then, less than two minutes into overtime, the fate of both teams was sealed.

Barely across the center line, Hampus Lindholm pushed the disc into the back of the Leafs zone with the goal of bouncing it off the boards to pass to a teammate. A bit like Nicklas Lidström and the Sedin twins. Obviously, a very Swedish ploy.

David Pastrnak, disguised as an invisible man since the start of the series, was passing by and grabbed the puck to beat goaltender Ilya Samsonov with a backhand feint.

Criticized by his coach a few days ago, the scorer of 47 goals in the regular season put the exclamation point on an already emotional evening.

The most used forward of the evening by Jim Montgomery, Pastrnak allowed his team to join the Florida Panthers in the second round, but above all to end the season of the Torontonians, who, once again, faltered in the first round .

An unfinished ascent

The Maple Leafs fought with dignity. Disadvantaged by the temporary absence of several impact players during the series, such as William Nylander and Auston Matthews, the team rallied well despite a 1-3 series deficit.

In his four matches played, Nylander has been smoking hot. He scored his team’s only goal, in the middle of the second period, on a pass from Matthews, precisely, following a turnover by Brandon Carlo in the Bruins zone.

The Leafs’ last three goals belong to Nylander, author of two successes in game six.

It’s difficult to criticize those who will become the team’s two highest earners next season. However, the third musketeer, Mitch Marner, will certainly have to face criticism from the Toronto media in the days to come. The winger scored just one goal in seven games, and even though he was the Leafs’ second-most used forward, he only had one shot on goal in the drawn-out game.

His team therefore misses a great chance to silence the critics and end an ugly streak. The last time the team won a Game 7, Ed Belfour was the Leafs’ goaltender in 2004. In 20 years, they have survived the first round only once, and that was in 2023.

Otherwise, the organization has been accumulating failures ever since.

A battle of Cerberus

The appearance of this meeting would have been very different, had it not been for the outfit of the two official guards.

For the Leafs, Samsonov arrived to reinforce Joseph Woll at the last minute, since the starting goaltender was injured during morning practice. He wasn’t even in uniform for the meeting.

Samsonov was disappointing in the first duels of this series with an efficiency rate of 0.833 in his first appearance and 0.824 in his last.

However, he has nothing to reproach himself for in the defeat of his people. He stood out when the Bruins were threatening and even though Woll will undoubtedly find his net for the first game of next season, Samsonov looked better than many Toronto fans expected.

On the other side, Jeremy Swayman was the real star of the Bruins. Author of 30 saves, he was uncompromising. Before Lindholm’s equalizing goal in the third period, he made a spectacular save to start his team’s recovery. He also stood out on two occasions on breakaways by Leafs players.

Montgomery was hopeful before the start of this series that he could continue his work of alternating between Swayman and Linus Ullmark, which he attempted in the second game.

But Swayman can now sleep soundly: barring a major turnaround, he will be the point man until the Bruins’ season ends.

Until then, some of his teammates will have to pull themselves together if they wish to get past the Panthers, who have been resting for several days. Last year, the Floridians defeated the Oursons in seven games.

To take its revenge, Boston will not be able to count forever on the miracles of Swayman and the punctual touch of its best scorer.

Brad Marchand, Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle, invisible in the last three matches, will have to give more. Same thing for the defensive brigade, approximate in moments of tension. On the other hand, Matthew Tkachuk and company will take great pleasure in shaking up the already fragile Bruins to eliminate them two years in a row.