Recap: Bruins top Maple Leafs, 2-1, in overtime

The Boston Bruins edged out the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1, at the TD Garden tonight in what felt like a playoff game.

Jeremy Swayman, who made 31 saves in the win, said the team felt the importance of the game and knew the Maple Leafs could be a potential playoff match-up down the road.

With the win, the Bruins are now 61-12-5 and one win closer to tying the NHL record for most wins in a regular season.

Toronto clinched the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Division with the point.

Here are the highlights!

First period:

Scoreless

Second period:

The Maple Leafs opened the scoring at 11:34 of the second period.

Capitalizing on a turnover by David Pastrnak, Zach Aston-Reese fired a shot on Swayman. Unmanned, Sam Lafferty found the rebound at the backdoor to put a shot past Swayman. 1-0 Maple Leafs.

Third period:

The Bruins tied the game at 11:32 of the third period.

Brandon Carlo kept the play alive at the blue line and fed the puck to Charlie Coyle who skated with it to the top of the left-wing circle and let a wrist shot fly past Ilya Samsonov. 1-1 tie game.

Overtime:

The Bruins ended the game at 2:30 in overtime.

As the power play just expired, Dmitry Orlov hit Pastrnak with a one-timer at the top of the left-wing circle where he beat Samsonov’s glove. Final score: 2-1 Bruins.

Game notes:

• The Bruins’ win over the Maple Leafs tonight had that playoff feel — minus the crowd energy for most of it. It was a tight game which quality opportunities from both sides, along with some calls that the refs just let both teams play on.
• The B’s are now one win away from tying the NHL record for most wins in a regular season as they notched win No. 61 tonight.
• Pastrnak may have turned the puck over which lead to Toronto scoring, but played battled through a stomach bug tonight, Head Coach Jim Montgomery revealed postgame. Pastrnak took shorter shifts and but was still out on the ice for 18:56 minutes. He had five shots on goal, which included the game-winning goal in overtime.
• Pastrnak is now up to 57 goals this season and three away from 300 career goals.
• Swayman was a huge factor tonight in the team’s win. SCOC asked Patrice Bergeron how he felt about Swayman’s performance tonight and his consistency down this stretch. Bergeron said: “He was great. He made some amazing saves. He kept us in the game. A lot can be said about what he did tonight against a great offensive team.”
• Swayman is now 6-0-0 in his last six starts with an overall .950 save percentage. He made 31 saves tonight. He came up big on chances from Marner, Lafferty and Nylander who all pressured him tonight. Matthews also had six shots on him, including some jabs out front that Swayman stayed strong on.
• Good news: Charlie McAvoy left the game during the second period after a collision with Bergeron. Postgame, Montgomery told reporters that McAvoy was kept out as a precautionary measure.
• Montgomery was asked if he’d rest McAvoy on Saturday if he needed it. Montgomery said yes, and that goes for David Krejci as well.
• The Bruins return to the TD Garden on Saturday, April 8, to face the New Jersey Devils at 8 p.m.

Listen to the post-game recap podcast here: