Bruins hang on to defeat Maple Leafs in Game 4, even series
Marchand has three points for Boston; Matthews scores twice for Toronto
via NHL.com
Brad Marchand had a goal and two assists for the Boston Bruins in a 6-4 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.
“The more you’ve been around, the more you understand this is what playoffs is all about,” Marchand said. “Nobody expects to win four games in a row. We expect against this group to go a long ways, they have a great team over there. They’re going to compete hard, there’s going to be ups and downs. We just have to feel comfortable in these situations.”
David Pastrnak scored twice, and Tuukka Rask made 38 saves for the Bruins. Pastrnak had one assist through the first three games of the series, which is tied 2-2 with Game 5 at Boston on Friday.
“He’s a guy we rely on to score and create offense and actually play a good 200-foot game, he’s certainly capable of that,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It was good to see him score. Scorers, when they don’t score, can get antsy. I’m not saying David was there, but we wanted to keep him from going there. Getting his two goals, they get recharged.”
Auston Matthews scored twice, and Frederik Andersen made 25 saves for the Maple Leafs, who trailed 2-0 and 5-2.
“The message in our locker room after the first and second (periods) was to keep battling and find away,” Matthews said. “There’s no quit in this locker room, we gave ourselves a chance but it just wasn’t enough.”
They said it
“They’re gamers. They know they haven’t been at the top of their game, necessarily, for a few games. Listen, they were ready. They were in the hallway before the game, talking about certain plays. Those guys were dialed in. They’re pros. They’re top-end players. They’re Stanley Cup champions. So those are not guys you worry about very often.” — Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy on Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron
“They’ve got real good players, let’s not kid ourselves. But, those two goals tonight, we covered this morning, and we didn’t look after it. We’ve got to fix it. The bottom line is, you can’t give those power-play goals up. To me, those are just freebies, those two. Not that they didn’t make plays or anything like that, but we weren’t in the spots we were supposed to be in. … It isn’t good enough right now. The great thing about it is, series is not over, so we don’t have to live with that number. We can still fix it.” — Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock on a penalty kill that was 0-for-2 in Game 4 and is 6-for-11 in the series
Need to know
Chara is the second-oldest defenseman (42 years, 30 days) to score in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Chris Chelios (45 years, 86 days) scored in Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals with the Detroit Red Wings.
What’s next
Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round at TD Garden on Friday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS, NESN)