The Boston Bruins are the hottest team in hockey, plain and simple. The Black & Gold continued their dominance over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night to claim the Northeastern Division throne for the time being with a 6-3 victory north of the border. Boston finishes the month of November without a regular season loss, the first time the franchise has accomplished such a feat since 1968.
Toronto got on the board first with a Mikhail Grabovski power play goal in the first, but Milan Lucic answered with a power play goal of his own to knot the score at one. The score held through the buzzer and the teams went to the dressing rooms tied.
David Krejci gave Boston their first lead of the night when he tipped a Nathan Horton pass past Toronto goaltender Jonas Gustavsson to make it 2-1. Toronto answered, however, when Phil Kessel found Joffrey Lupul, who beat Tim Thomas with a one-timer to tie the game at two. Later in the period, Krejci found a trailing Zdeno Chara, who wristed a shot past Gustavsson to give Boston another one goal lead, this time it was 3-2. Click here for a great betting site, so you can put money down on the Bruins.
Benoit Pouliot scored his third goal of the season early in the third when Joe Corvo’s backhand pass, which was intended for Gregory Campbell, skittered past the fourth line center and found Pouliot, who beat Gustavsson to give the Bruins a two goal lead. Toronto wouldn’t go quietly, however, as Matt Frattin threw a no angle shot on net that ricocheted off of Thomas’s stick in into the net to cut Boston’s lead to one goal, 4-3. The Leafs could not inch closer, though, as Lucic scored his second goal of the game, again from Krejci, to give the Black & Gold a two goal lead yet again. Toronto pulled the goalie in favor of the extra skater, and Brad Marchand batted the puck into the vacated net to seal it for the B’s, a 6-3 victory in Toronto.
Gustavsson had 34 saves on 39 shots, while his counterpart, Thomas, made 34 saves on 37 shots, including an incredible stop on Kessel, the former Bruin, on a breakaway in the first period.
The B’s and Maple Leafs will face off for the fourth time this season on Saturday night in the second half of a home-and-home set in Boston, 7:00 PM on NESN.
