Rask, Bruins Shutout Toronto Maple Leafs
BOSTON - It was a battle of the netminders for both the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs in Saturday night's contest at the TD Garden.
But Boston struck twice in the final period and Tuukka Rask stopped 22 shots en route to the 2-0 victory.
At 16:17 in the third period, defenseman Zdeno Chara set ignited the Garden with a shot past goaltender James Reimer, assisted by defenseman Zach Trotman and left winger Matt Beleskey. With 6.5 seconds left, Brad Marchand sealed the Leafs' fate with an empty netter.
Marked by two scoreless periods, Boston improved to 2-1-0 when tied after the second period, while Toronto drops to 3-4-1.
It was the first time this season Boston entered the third period without at least two goals in the first two periods combined.
Reimer, who stopped 35 shots, extended his streak of consecutive periods with one goal or less to 24 periods. The netminder was 5-0-0 in his last five games entering the contest.
The Bruins' offense, boasting the Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Jimmy Hayes top line, looked strong by outshooting Toronto 14-7 in the first period. After tripping left winger James Van Riemsdyk, Marchand and the winger got into a scuffle, landing Marchand in the penalty box with a roughing charge at 15:46.
The Bruins killed the penalty, squashing the Maple Leafs' hopes of scoring. Toronto was unable to register a shot on goal with the man-advantage.
The Bruins couldn't capitalize on their lone power play in the third either, making both teams perfect on the penalty kill for the game.
NOTES: Bruins F Max Talbot was recalled from Providence on an emergency basis Saturday morning. Talbot skated with the team during morning skate and is available for the game against the Maple Leafs. ... LW Frank Vatrano is unavailable for the game against the Leafs, still day-to-day with an upper-body injury sustained in Thursday night's game. The team is hoping he will practice again on Sunday. ... F Matt Beleskey is purchasing and personally delivering $2,000 worth of pies to various shelters and charitable organizations on Thanksgiving. ... Leafs D Martin Marincin was a late scratch.
