The Boston Bruins had a chance to close out their first round series with the Maple Leafs and advance to the second round of the playoffs.
Reimer did exactly that as he stood on his head and made some incredible saves through the three frames, as the Leafs took the hard fought victory by a score of 2-1.
The Leafs started off each period hemmed in their own zone by the Bruins attackers. There were some dicey moments, but the Buds were able to finally leave their own zone safely and bring the game to Boston.
Tyler Bozak was able to win a foot race on the penalty kill against Bruin defender Andrew Ference and got off a shot that just slipped under Tuukka Rask's arm to make it 1-0 Leafs.
Clarke MacArthur padded the Leafs lead in the third, as he made a beautiful power move to get around Johnny Boychuk before tucking the puck neatly around Rask.
The Leafs couldn't hold onto the shutout, as they were dominated in their own zone on a shift by the dreaded line of Nathan Horton, Milan Lucic and David Krejci, before Bruin captain Zdeno Chara fired home a goal that energized his team and the crowd.
Tyler Bozak then took a delay of game penalty late in the game that had the Bruins scrambling for chances to tie it up, but the Leafs' penalty killers and James Reimer stood tall and held on to win the game.
Looking ahead to Game 6, there are a few clear ideas as to what the Leafs need to do. They need to continue to apply pressure through all three periods.
They played an excellent 40 minutes this past game, but after MacArthur scored to put the Leafs up 2-0, the wheels fell off for the club as Boston came storming back with a vengeance.
The Buds also need to find more effective ways to break out of their own zone and clear the puck deep. Too many times last night the Leafs were unable to clear their own zone and this lead to numerous Bruin scoring chances.
More Info: White reinstates Luis Leon Sanchez after denying his return to competition
No comments:
Post a Comment