Maple Leafs snap 0-8 slump vs. Bruins
TORONTO -- The Boston Bruins had the bulk of the chances but the Toronto Maple Leafs were efficient with the ones they created and picked up a 3-2 win on home ice Saturday night.
The Leafs got a goal in each period -- with each one coming within the first five minutes of each respective period -- by Nazem Kadri, Mikhail Grabovski and Frazer McLaren.
Dennis Seidenberg and Andrew Ference scored for the Bruins.
James Reimer had a busy night making 31 saves, while Anthon Khudobin and Tuukka Rask combined to make 10 for the Bruins. Rask replaced Khudobin after Toronto's third goal in the third period.
Toronto's win was its first over the Bruins in nine games between the two teams.
"It's just one win. We can't be blowing it out of proportion like we're winning the Stanley Cup here," Reimer said, downplaying the importance of finally beating Boston. "We played a good game against a good team and we won. We're happy about it but really we won a hockey game and we're happy about it."
Kadri got his 14th goal of the season at 4:58 of the first period. Clarke MacArthur crossed the Bruins' blue line on the left side and snuck a pass to Kadri, who was alone behind the defense and beat Khudobin with a quick shot.
The Bruins outshot the Leafs 10-4 in the first period and it was against the run of play that the Leafs doubled their lead early in the second.
Grabovski got his second goal in as many games at 2:52 of the second. On what was just the Leafs' fifth shot on goal to that point, Grabovski eluded a check from Milan Lucic and fended off two challenges from Bruins players before snapping a shot into the far corner.
"I think that when you win a hockey game and you only get 13 shots and the opposition gets 33, I don't think you can say that was your game plan," said Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle. "I thought our goaltender made some big stops."
Khudobin was pulled after McLaren scored his third goal of the season at 1:34 of the third.
Leafs tough guy Colton Orr got the puck out of the corner for McLaren, who was right next to the goal. McLaren spun and tried a hopeful backhand that Khudobin couldn't stop and ended up deflecting the puck into his own net.
"I don't even know how that goal went on the third one," admitted Khudoba. "The first two were good shots and then the last one I tried to stay focused and it was an unlucky bounce against my pad and it just went through."
Boston got its first goal less than a minute later as Seidenberg scored his second of the season when his shot from the right face-off circle got through a screen in front and past Reimer at 2:30.
The Bruins made it 3-2 when a Leafs player deflected Ference's shot in at 18:44 but, despite the late Boston push, the Leafs held on.
"For sure there was a lack of energy and jump in our game and maybe a little bit more desperation," said Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, adding that his team isn't used to playing with desperation and that ultimately worked against them. "We were close to scoring a few times and maybe because of that it was a different result for us later on."
NOTES: Chris Kelly (broken tibia) and Adam McQuaid (shoulder) were out of the Boston lineup with injuries. Leo Komarov (upper body) was the only absence because of injury for Toronto. ... The Bruins snapped a three-game losing streak on the road when they beat the Ottawa Senators 2-1 on Thursday. ... Saturday's game was the first of a home-and-home series between the two teams. They'll go at it again on Monday in Boston. ... Leafs forward Joffrey Lupul sat out the final game of his two-game suspension. Lupul was suspended for his illegal check to the head on Tampa Bay Lightning forward Victor Hedman on Wednesday night.
