Recap: Bruins bounce back with 4-1 win over Maple Leafs

Well that was much better.

If you were hoping for the complete opposite of what we saw on Saturday night, you almost got exactly what you wanted!

With a much better effort all over the ice, the Bruins skated out to a 3-0 lead before eventually beating the Leafs in Toronto, 4-1.

While it doesn’t necessarily cancel out the 5-1 loss to the Islanders, it certainly goes a long way towards resetting the vibes, right?

To the highlights!

Shortly after the Bruins killed a high sticking penalty to Kevin Shattenkirk, Morgan Geekie got on the board midway through the first period by crashing the net. 1-0 Bruins.

With Jake McCabe off for slashing, the Bruins would get another one just three minutes later, with Pavel Zacha finishing off a pretty passing sequence to make it 2-0 Bruins.

Jake DeBrusk made it 3-0 Bruins five minutes into the second period, beating Joseph Woll glove side.

John Tavares got the Leafs on the board four minutes into the third period, beating Jeremy Swayman with a great shot over the shoulder. 3-1 Bruins.

Speaking of Jeremy Swayman, he was very protective of his crease tonight.

With the Leafs pushing, Zacha got on the board again seven minutes later, collecting a fortuitous bounce and sneaking it past Woll’s skate to make it 4-1 Bruins.

And that was it! The Leafs got a late power play with 90 seconds to go and pulled the goalie, but couldn’t muster any additional offense.

4-1, Bruins win.

Game notes

• It was a good night for breaking scoring droughts. DeBrusk’s goal was his first in his last six games and just his second goal in his last 16 games. Zacha’s goals were his first in his last 12 games. It was the first time all season that he has scored twice in a game.
• Swayman had a very good game for the Bruins, making 32 saves. Brandon Carlo had a pretty big save himself, sweeping an Auston Matthews attempt off the goal line.
• David Pastrnak collected assists 50, 51, and 52 tonight. That ties his previous career high, set last season. He continues to very much enjoy playing against the Leafs. He also landed a whopping seven shots on goal.
• The Bruins played with fire a bit, giving Toronto four power plays (though one was in garbage time). However, the PK stood tall. The kill late in the second, after DeBrusk’s goal, was a big one, stifling any hopes of Toronto taking momentum into the third period.
• The Bruins kept both William Nylander and Matthews off the scoresheet entirely, no small feat. It’s just the second time in his last 14 games that Nylander has been pointless, while it’s just the third time for Matthews in that same span.
• The B’s are now 3-0 against the Leafs on the season, with tonight’s win the first multi-goal win against Toronto this year. The previous two wins came in the shootout and in overtime, respectively.
• If you’re not on Twitter (good call), you missed a classic bit of rampant rumormongering when people started to point out that Linus Ullmark wasn’t on the Bruins bench. TRADED MID-GAME!!!! No, he was just sitting across the ice near the Zamboni doors, as the back-up sometimes does in Toronto. The Bruins had some fun with it. It’s that time of year, I guess!

It’s a lot easier to get back to work when you’re coming off of a big win, but a tall task awaits with the Flying McDavids in town tomorrow night.

The Oilers have won four in a row. See ya tomorrow!