Bruins
Jeremy Swayman was lights out once again, stopping 28 of the 29 shots he faced on Saturday.
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Nervous energy surrounded Boston heading into Saturday night’s Game 7, as the Bruins hoped to avoid a blown 3-1 series lead for the second straight season.
By the time the final horn sounded, though, all of that energy converted into deafening cheers. David Pastrnak, who was called out by Jim Montgomery to play better following Game 6, scored the dagger in overtime, and Boston took the series with a 2-1 win Saturday.
Jeremy Swayman played lights out between the pipes, stopping 28 of the 29 shots he faced; he’s been the best goalie in the Stanley Cup playoffs in both save percentage and goals allowed average.
The Bruins came out on fire to start the first period, a welcome change from their previous two contests. Boston only registered three shots on goal in the first period of Games 5 and 6 combined. On Saturday, it generated 11 shots on goal in the opening frame.
None of those shots led to an opening tally, but they were key in not only sparking energy on the bench, but also testing Toronto goalie Ilya Samsonov. The Maple Leafs benched Samsonov earlier in the series in favor of Joseph Woll, who played much better in Games 5 and 6 than Samsonov played through the first few.
However, an injury at some point in Game 6 held Woll out of Saturday’s Game 7, so Samsonov reclaimed his spot between the posts. To his credit, Samsonov handled the sudden change well, and stopped 29 of 31 shots in the win-or-go-home contest.
While Boston controlled much of the first period, the second was all Maple Leafs. Toronto peppered Swayman with shots, including multiple grade-A chances and a pair of breakaways. None of the Maple Leafs could break through the All-Star goalie, though.
William Nylander opened the scoring for Toronto midway through the third period, scoring his third goal in two games. Hampus Lindholm, inversely, only scored three goals all season prior to his tying tally less than two minutes later.
Both teams remained deadlocked following the scoring outburst, and 60 minutes wasn’t enough to settle it.
The Bruins came out just a bit more desperate in the overtime frame, and clinched the game-winner mere minutes in.
Quick turnaround
Boston doesn’t have much time to dwell on the series win. It’ll travel to Florida for Game 1 of its second round series against the Panthers on Monday.
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