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Bruins Postgame: Leafs Beat Bruins 2-1 In OT To Force A Game 6

Originally posted on Boston Hockey Now | By Jimmy Murphy | Last updated 4/30/24

Matthew Knies scored 2:26 into overtime, and the Toronto Maple Leafs forced a Game 6 in Toronto on Thursday with a 2-1 overtime win over the Boston Bruins in Game 5 on Tuesday night at TD Garden.

Boston Bruins fans can be forgiven if they’re feeling a sense of Déjà vu right now because, for a second straight season, their team failed to close out a series in a Game 5 on home ice. Not only that, just as they did to the Florida Panthers in the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Bruins lost Game 5 in overtime. Just as they did in Game 5 against the Panthers last year, the Bruins came out flat and could not match the desperation and intensity of the Maple Leafs. Somehow, though, after Toronto defenseman Jake McCabe put the Maple Leafs up 1-0 5:33 into the game, the Bruins went into the first intermission tied at one, and that’s how the game stayed until Knies’ overtime goal.

Here’s your Boston Hockey Now Bruins Postgame:

CLUTCH: Toronto Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies gets the nod here. Knies scored the overtime winner, and he also had four shots, three hits, and one blocked shot. Knies was also quite the agitator and drove Bruins star winger David Pastrnak nuts in the third period.

THERE WILL BE A GAME 6

Matthew Knies scores in @SportChek overtime as the @MapleLeafs win in Boston to extend the series! #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/zA3YrzgoAw

— NHL (@NHL) May 1, 2024

DOGHOUSE: As was the case too many times during the regular season, the Boston Bruins came out absolutely flat to start this game. They had one shot in the first ten minutes and finished with two in the first period, getting out-shot 12-2. The Bruins also lost the battle at the dot 11-4 in the opening frame. The biggest issue, though, was their breakouts, which were, to put it nicely, sloppy. There were too many rushed passes and unforced errors with Matt Grzelcyk leading the way on the turnover that led to Jake McCabe’s goal 5:33 into the period. For a team that had their opponent on the ropes coming into Game 5, they did not go for the jugular right away. If the Boston Bruins start this way on Thursday in Toronto, they will be back on TD Garden ice on Saturday facing elimination in a do-or-die Game 7.

BANGER: Boston Bruins forward Morgan Geekie led all skaters with eight hits.

UNSUNG HERO: Former Boston College and Game 5 starting goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Joseph Woll erased some bad memories from the Beanpot and Hockey East tournaments with the best game of his young NHL career. In his fourth career game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and easily the biggest game of his career, Woll withstood a Bruins team that got better as the game went on. The 25-year-old Missouri native and childhood friend of Bruins forward Trent Frederic stopped 28 of 29 Bruins shots, including 22 in the final two periods and then all five in overtime. Thrown into the fire after Ilya Samsonov started the first four games for the Maple Leafs, Woll delivered and will surely get the nod between the pipes for Game 6.

Joseph Woll holds steady in the third

: Sportsnet
: Stream on Sportsnet+ pic.twitter.com/VsUArg7LRx

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 1, 2024

Series Schedule:

Game 1: Bruins 5 Maple Leafs 1
Game 2: Maple Leafs 3 Bruins 2
Game 3: Bruins 4 Maple Leafs 2
Game 4: Bruins 3 Maple Leafs 1
Game 5: Maple Leafs 2 Bruins 1 (OT)
Game 6: BOS @ TOR, May 2* (TBD)
Game 7: TOR @ BOS, May 4* (TBD)

Boston Bruins Lineup

Forwards

Brad Marchand – Charlie Coyle – Morgan Geekie

Jake DeBrusk – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak

James van Riemsdyk – – Trent Frederic – Danton Heinen

Pat Maroon – Jesper Boqvist – Justin Brazeau

Defensemen

Mason Lohrei – Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Carlo

Matt Grzelcyk-Parker Wotherspoon

Goalies

Jeremy Swayman