A late-period faceoff. A tiny window to try a set play after an extended stoppage. It was all David Pastrnak needed.
Seconds before the first intermission of Game 2, with the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs tied 1-1, the Bruins executed perfectly on an offensive zone draw, with Pastrnak drifting toward the top of the circle and one-timing a Charlie McAvoy feed through goaltender Ilya Samsonov.
It was one of the best goal-scorers in the world, converting on his signature play, in the tightest of windows. It’s what earns ‘Pasta’ $11.25 million per year. Superstars are paid to deliver.
But Pastrnak wasn’t the only $11 million man in action Thursday night. The Leafs had three of their own out there: Auston Matthews ($11.64 million), Mitch Marner ($10.9 million) and John Tavares ($11 million).
Tavares got his moment after what could have been a deflating second period, during which the Leafs had consecutive goals called back, once when Calle Jarnkrok was denied on the doorstep with Linus Ullmark’s trapper almost caught in Boston’s net, another when Tyler Bertuzzi batted a puck out of the air with his stick too high above the crossbar. The Leafs shook off the frustration and bit down on their mouthguards. Tavares corralled a Matthews pass late in a power play and uncorked a turnaround slapshot to beat Ullmark and tie the game 2-2.
“There is just a lot of belief and trust in that room in one another,” captain John Tavares told Sportsnet. “A lot of guys have been in different situations over the years. We just continued to stay with it and got rewarded.”
But the defining moment, the true answer, to Pastrnak’s, belonged to Matthews, catching a perfectly flipped puck from Max Domi midway through a tense third period and undressing Ullmark with a highlight-reel deke for the game-winning goal. It was the 69-goal scorer playing like one when his team needed him most.
The Leafs in Game 2 Monday were everything they were not in Game 1. They actually managed long periods of sustained zone time, especially when the fourth line of Connor Dewar, David Kampf and Ryan Reaves were out there. They won battles for pucks and were physical enough without being undisciplined, for the most part; they were burned when a mindless Jake McCabe cross-check yielded a Bruins power play goal, and they forced themselves into a crucial third-period kill when Ilya Lyubushkin and Tyler Bertuzzi pushed it too far after a whistle. They kept their legs moving during their offensive zone time and drew penalties, ending up with three power plays to Boston’s two. Toronto actually looked cohesive and consistently threatening on the power play, partially because they did a much better job gaining possession on faceoffs.
But doing the little things right can only take you so far in the postseason. You still have to outscore your opponent, and the Leafs, despite being one of the deadliest offensive clubs in the game for close to a decade now, entered Game 2 having scored two goals or fewer in eight consecutive playoff games. Matthews hadn’t scored in six postseason games, while Tavares and Marner had a goal apiece in their previous 10 playoff games. In a game as tight as Game 2 at TD Garden, you need to be opportunistic, and it’s your star players who punish mistakes better than anyone.
That’s what made Matthews’ performance in particular so important. It wasn’t just the game-winning goal. He assisted on Toronto’s first two goals; played more than 23 minutes; controlled 66.57 percent of expected goals at 5-on-5; won 70 percent of his faceoffs; put eight shots on net; threw six hits; and even scooped a lose puck out of the blue paint behind Samsonov during a desperate Bruins’ push in the dying minutes of the third period. Especially given the context, it might have been the finest all-around game of his career.
“Auston’s all over the stat sheet tonight,” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters in Boston. “A goal, two assists, but to me it’s the way he worked — hard, physical, winning puck battles all over the ice.”
The Leafs played with far more urgency and discipline in Game 2. But star power was always going to be their most important advantage over a Bruins team that lost so many key players last offseason. It made the difference Monday night.
The Leafs have outchanced the Bruins 58-27 at 5-on-5 so far in the series. The Mercurial Samsonov just went save for save with the reigning Vezina Trophy winner in a heroic performance. And now, heading back home, Toronto faces the prospect of getting William Nylander back in its lineup.
Talk about a momentum shift.
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