Jim Montgomery called for David Pastrnak to step up after Game 6. It took a while, but in the biggest moment, Pastrnak did just that.
Just under two minutes into overtime in Saturday night’s Game 7, Pastrnak flew into the offensive zone with a full head of steam, won a race to a perfect cross-corner indirect pass from Hampus Lindholm, and flipped a shot past Ilya Samsonov to lift the Boston Bruins to a 2-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
With the win, the Bruins avoided a repeat of last season, bouncing back from losses in Games 5 and 6 to finish off the Leafs in seven games for the fourth time in the last 12 years. They will open the second round Monday night in Florida against the Panthers.
Montgomery said on Friday that he knew Pastrnak would be ready to go in Game 7. He felt even more confident about it Saturday morning.
"When I walked in this morning, he had a smile on his face ear to ear," Montgomery said. "And he goes, 'What's up, coach? You sleep well?' And as soon as I know he's in that frame of mind, I knew he was gonna be good tonight."
Pastrnak had no problem with Montgomery's public callout. He knew he needed to "step up," as his coach bluntly put it.
"It obviously helped," Pastrnak said. "You have this conversation with Jimmy. He said the stuff he did after Game 6. I told him like, 'If I'm the coach and you are me, I would say the same thing.' So I had no problem with him saying that. He's just trying to bring the best out of every single player, and he expects more. I just took it as a man and tried to be better. I admitted I need to be better, and I still have ways to be better."
After a scoreless first two periods, the Bruins’ defense cracked first 9:01 into the third. Brandon Carlo lost his footing in his own zone, leading to a turnover and an easy setup from Auston Matthews – back after missing the previous two games – to William Nylander to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead.
It felt like one goal may have been enough given the way the game was going, but the Bruins made sure that wasn’t the case, with the answer coming from an unlikely source. A great response shift from the third line of James van Riemsdyk, Trent Frederic and Justin Brazeau eventually led to a chance for Lindholm, who stepped into the left circle and squeaked a shot past Samsonov for his first postseason goal as a Bruin.
Lindholm was terrific all night, scoring the tying goal, setting up Pastrnak's winner and just playing confident, composed hockey at both ends of the ice. Like Pastrnak, Lindholm had come under public criticism this week, especially after a couple subpar performances in Games 5 and 6. His Game 7 performance should quiet the critics at least for a couple days.
"Hampus was assertive tonight. He played on his toes," Montgomery said. "...He's such a good defender, and then you saw the poise."
Neither team could score the rest of the way in regulation after Lindholm's goal, sending the series to its second overtime in the last three games, and Boston to its second Game 7 overtime in as many years. The Bruins made sure this would not be a repeat of last year.
"This was our best game all series," Montgomery said. "Really proud of the players, because this was an opportunity to seize the moment and be difference-makers, and I felt everybody had the attitude of wanting to be a difference-maker."
The Leafs got their best player back in Matthews, but his return wasn’t even the most dramatic pregame news in this one. Rumors began to surface about two hours before the game that Leafs goalie Joseph Woll – the catalyst for their turnaround in Games 5 and 6 – could miss the game. The rumors came to fruition, as Woll did not dress due to injury and ceded the net back to Ilya Samsonov. The injury may have happened on Morgan Geekie’s seemingly meaningless goal with one second left in Game 6.
Regardless of who was in net, the Bruins needed to get off to a much better start than they did in Games 5 and 6, and they did. They controlled play early on and ultimately outshot Toronto 11-8 in the first, easily surpassing their three total first-period shots over the previous two games.
The game hit the first intermission still scoreless, though. Samsonov was up to the challenge after struggling earlier in the series, and Jeremy Swayman continued to be rock solid in the Boston end, including making a big glove save on William Nylander on an odd-man rush that resulted from a Charlie McAvoy turnover.
The Bruins got the game’s first power play early in the second after James van Riemsdyk got taken down in front of the net by Timothy Liljegren, but they couldn’t get much of anything going and even turned the puck over in their own zone twice just trying to get their rush up ice started.
Right after Boston’s power play ended, the Leafs went on the man advantage when Charlie Coyle crosschecked Max Domi (softly, if we’re being honest). Toronto’s power play looked much more dangerous, which hasn’t been the case all series, as they landed five shots on net. Swayman continued to dominate, though, including making a point-blank save on Calle Jarnkrok.
The Bruins got another power play midway through the second, and again it nearly led to disaster. McAvoy committed another brutal turnover, throwing a pass right to a Leaf for an easy clear. Then Pastrnak turned the puck over on an entry attempt, leading to a shorthanded breakaway for Connor Dewar and another massive bailout save by Swayman.
This was the first time in Swayman's career that he really got the chance to run with the No. 1 role in a playoff series, and he certainly seized the moment. He went 4-2 in his six starts with a sparkling .950 save percentage and 1.49 goals-against average.
"He was our best player in the series," Montgomery said of Swayman. "It's not close, right? I think that his confidence and his swagger, I think it permeated through the group. Took a while, but it got there."
Comments / 0