Bruins Win Game 3 in Toronto to Retake Series Lead 

TORONTO – Brad Marchand had two goals and an assist, including the go-ahead goal at 11:53 of the third period, and the Boston Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 in Game 3 to retake the series lead in the Eastern Conference First Round at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.

Marchand took a pass from Danton Heinen, who won the puck behind the net, and shot over Ilya Samsonov’s glove from the right face-off dot to give the Bruins a 3-2 lead.

“We stuck with it all game, it wasn’t always pretty and I said it the other day, they’re coming very hard, they’re playing very physical, but I thought we elevated to another level from where we had been at the first couple of games and it was great it paid off,” Marchand said.

Marchand scored an empty-net goal with 36 seconds left for the 4-2 final.

“Now I witness it firsthand, but I love watching hockey and even if I wasn’t coaching in the NHL, I was watching him (Marchand) and Patrice Bergeron and what the Bruins were doing because they’ve always been an elite team,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. “(Marchand) has always risen to big moments. You look at his career points in the playoffs, like wow.”

Marchand’s empty-net goal was his 55th career playoff goal, tying Cam Neely for the most in Bruins history. His game-winning goal was the 12th of his playoff career, passing Neely for the most in Bruins history. 

“Those are things that you kind of look at down the road and look back upon and get excited about,” Marchand said. “Hopefully there is plenty more in the tank, but to be in the company of a guy like that who is one of the most gifted goal-scorers in the history of our franchise and the game, it’s pretty special.”

Boston leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 will be in Toronto on Saturday.

Trent Frederic and Jake DeBrusk scored for the Bruins, who are the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Division. Jeremy Swayman, who made 35 saves in a 5-1 win in Game 1 before backing up Linus Ullmark in Game 2, made 28 saves.

“Any time I get a chance to play, I’m going to do whatever I can to help this team win,” Swayman said. “Whether it’s back-to-back to every other game, I’m just really grateful every time I do get a chance and that’s all I worry about.”

“I’m never going to expect anything, I’m going to earn it. That’s all I care about.”

Matthew Knies and Tyler Bertuzzi scored, and Samsonov made 30 saves for the Maple Leafs, who are the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic. Toronto played its third straight game without forward William Nylander because of an undisclosed injury.

“Little mistakes at very important times that end up in our net, but in general I just didn’t think we got to our game nearly as much tonight as we did in the others,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Credit to Boston, they played hard, made it hard to get through the neutral zone and I didn’t think we did enough to manage through that.”

Knies gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead at 13:10 of the second period. Mitch Marner took a drop pass from Joel Edmundson as he skated through the right circle and found Knies with a seam pass for a tap in at the left post.

Frederic tied it 1-1 at 17:37 when he beat Samsonov short side with a wrist shot from the left circle.

DeBrusk scored his third power-play goal of the playoffs to put the Bruins up 2-1 at 1:07 of the third period when he put in a rebound at the top of the crease off Marchand’s shot.

Bertuzzi tied it 2-2 at 11:25. Morgan Rielly’s shot from the top of the left circle deflected off Bertuzzi’s skate before it went in off Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm’s skate in the slot.

Toronto was 0-for-5 on the power play and are 1-11 in the series. Boston went 2-for-3.