Battling the B’s before the break

Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark makes a save on Maple Leafs forward Pierre Engvall during the first period of Wednesday’s game at Scotiabank Arena. Boston defeated Toronto 5-2 as the two top teams in the Atlantic Division faced off in the league’s final night of action before the NHL all-star break. Marty Klinkenberg has the game story on

Loss drops Toronto to a 31-13-8 record with 30 regular-season games remaining

Groundhog Day.

So much for a soft send-off into sunny weather and the all-star break. The Maple Leafs played their final game before the NHL’s winter recess not against an alsoran but against their arch-enemy, the Bruins, the No. 1 team in the league.

As bad luck would have it, they wake up on Feb. 2 licking their wounds after a tough 5-2 loss on Wednesday to the visitors. This is the third game between the Atlantic Division rivals and each one has been like Groundhog Day. Boston has won once by three goals and once by one. Toronto won the other meeting, also by one.

The match-up at Scotiabank Arena had a playoff atmosphere with the Maple Leafs coming in ranked third among the circuit’s 32 teams. The fact that the Bruins have rained down more than their share of misery upon the royal blue and white in postseason only heightened the intensity.

“A game like this is a nice one to have right before the break,” Sheldon Keefe, the Toronto coach, said in the morning. “I am sure the guys’ wives or girlfriends have their bags packed and are ready to go. It’s only natural, but this one here you can’t overlook.”

And what a game it was. Endto-end hockey. Dangerous chances. One fight and fans lustily booing Brad Marchand. Superb goaltending at both ends.

The Bruins were the league’s first team to win 30 games this season and became the fastest in history when they reached 80 points in their 47th outing. They bolted from the gate and have not had to look back, even after three successive losses.

The Maple Leafs started erratically but will sail into the furlough from the deep freeze a distant second in the division, 13 points back of you-know-who.

“It’s a big game,” Mark Giordano, Toronto’s veteran defenceman, said beforehand. “The Bruins have been the No. 1 team in the league all year. They play hard and are deep. That is why they have had so much success.”

The loss dropped the Maple Leafs to 31-13-8 with 30 regularseason games to grind out from here. Boston is 39-7-5.

For Toronto, it was the final game of five in a row at home, where the Maple Leafs are 20-5-4, the second-best record in the NHL. They won’t play again until Feb. 10 at Columbus against the Blue Jackets.

At the beginning, both teams came out flying.

In his seventh successive start, Ilya Samsonov stifled a shot from in close by Boston defenceman Brandon Carlo. At the opposite end, Linus Ullmark, making a strong bid to win the Vézina Trophy, stymied Mark Giordano.

Back and forth it went: Samsonov extinguished a break-away by Connor Clifton; Ullmark stuffed a give and go between Rasmus Sandin and Pierre Engvall. With a little more than a minute left Samsonov made a pad save to deny David Pastrnak from a few feet out.

It was 0-0 after 20 even minutes, with Toronto holding a slim 14-13 advantage on shots.

With 38 goals, Pastrnak is second in the league to only Connor McDavid. The Oilers captain has an otherworldly 41 goals and 92 points in 50 games.

“Pastrnak is as dynamic as they come,” Kerfoot said. “He is one of the elite players in the league. There is not a lot you can do to stop those guys. You just have to play as a five-man unit and limit their chances.”

In the second period the excitement notched up. Boston went ahead short-handed on a snipe by defenceman Derek Forbort with 13:03 left. Mitch Marner then tied it at 1-1 with a sharp wrist shot with 10:35 remaining, his 19th goal of the campaign. On the play, Samsonov earned his second assist of the season.

Carlo put the Bruins ahead 2-1 7 minutes 27 seconds before the second intermission. A.J. Greer stretched the margin to 3-1 with a wrist shot from the left wing a little more than two minutes into the third period. Two seconds later, Greer found himself getting hammered by punches from Wayne Simmonds, who was inserted into the lineup for just such an occasion.

It seemed to light a spark; the Maple Leafs got to within 3-2 when Calle Jarnkrok slapped one in from in close, his 12th goal of the season, with 11:22 to go in the third. Thirty seconds later Pavel Zacha replied in kind and the Bruins again had a two-goal lead. Then Zacha again with 7:41 to go.

For Boston it was another hardfought victory, for Toronto a difficult defeat. Ullmark made 33 saves in the victory to improve to 26-4-1. Samsonov stopped 24 of 29 he faced, but he played better than that.

“You have to play 60 minutes against them, finish the job, those sorts of things,” Keefe said said in the morning. “They are who they are because they thrive in all facets of the game. There are no shifts off and no plays off against them.”

Curses, foiled again.