Pavel Zacha powers Bruins past Maple Leafs 5-2 as both teams head to all-star break

TORONTO — Pavel Zacha scored twice in the third half as the Boston Bruins held off the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Wednesday. Derek Forbort and Brandon Carlo both had goals in the second half as Boston (39-7-5) enjoyed a three-game winning streak.

TORONTO — Pavel Zacha scored twice in the third half as the Boston Bruins held off the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Wednesday.

Derek Forbort and Brandon Carlo both had goals in the second half as Boston (39-7-5) enjoyed a three-game winning streak. AJ Greer also scored in the final period.

Linus Ullmark made 33 saves to win the net.

Mitch Marner scored his 19th goal of the season for Toronto on the power play (31-13-8). Calle Jarnkrok had a goal in the third to keep the Maple Leafs in the game.

Ilya Samsonov stopped 24 shots in his eighth straight game for Toronto.

Samsonov has been 5-1-1 in his last seven starts with a .925 save percentage and 2.24 goals against average.

He was tested twice in the first period of play, including a shot by David Pastrnak, who leads Boston with 38 goals.

Pastrnak also had the best chance of the first period with 1:17 left, slipping between two Leafs defenders and seemingly throwing Samsonov out of position. But the Toronto goalie slipped over his crease and pulled out a pad to stop the shot from close range.

Despite all of Boston’s scoring chances, Toronto overtook the Bruins 14-13 in the first 20 minutes of the game.

Forbort scored a goal shorthanded after 6:57 in the second minute. Charlie Coyle sent him a backhand pass off the boards as he drove into the slot unmarked.

Marner responded 2:28 later on the power play. After a long leading pass from Samsonov off the ties, Marner ran through the faceoff left circle and shot past Ullmark for a 1-1 equalizer.

Carlo restored Boston’s one-goal lead just over three minutes later, taking a pass from Hampus Lindholm and deflecting it past Samsonov from a wide angle.

Early in the third, Toronto center David Kampf had his arm around a hard attacking Greer and released his own stick to avoid a penalty. Greer capitalized on the opening and shot past Samsonov from the Hashmarks to make it 3-1 for the Bruins.

Leaves forward Wayne Simmonds immediately dropped his gloves on the subsequent pass and met Greer. Simmonds jiggled Greer’s chin with a hard shot and fell on top of him, ending the fight. Both took five minutes to fight, but Greer was sent to the dressing room after his bell rang.

Jarnkrok struck in a rebound from Ullmark’s pads after a shot deflected into the slot from Mark Giordano at 8:38. As the Leafs celebrated the goal, Toronto’s Michael Bunting got into an argument with Coyle behind the Bruins’ net and both received gross penalties.

Jarnkrok’s goal was still being announced over the public address system when Zacha let go of his defender and wired a shot from the point past Samsonov to restore Boston’s two-goal lead.

3:11 later Zacha put down his second of the night. Just yards from Samsonov’s goal area, he fell to one knee as David Krejci found a one-way goal.

TAVARES PUNK’D — John Tavares celebrated his 1,000th game in the NHL with two assists in Toronto’s 5-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Sunday. Timothy Liljegren decided to have a little fun at his captain’s expense after the game and awarded the team’s MVP belt to Giordano instead of Tavares. Giordano said on Wednesday he had planned to give a lengthy speech to really put salt in Tavares’ wound, but looking around the room he knew he had to give the belt to the right recipient.

“The joke caught a few people and they were already pretty upset that we didn’t give it to John, so I had to flip it pretty quickly,” Giordano laughed.

UP NEXT – It was both teams’ last game before the All-Star break.

Toronto won’t play again until February 10, when the Maple Leafs travel to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets.

The Bruins won’t play again until Feb. 11 when Boston hosts the Capitals.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on February 1, 2023.

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press