Wednesday's NHL: Pastrnak scores twice, Bruins beat Maple Leafs to tie series

Associated Press
Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak shoots on Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen during the third period.

Toronto — With the Maple Leafs buzzing and Scotiabank Arena rocking after Toronto tied it early in second period, the Boston Bruins needed a push from their dormant stars.

David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand delivered.

Pastrnak scored twice in quick succession, Marchand had a goal and two assists and the Bruins held off the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-4 on Wednesday night to tie the first-round series 2-2.

“It’s not easy to win in this building,” Pastrnak said. “A hell of a win.”

Game 5 is Friday night in Boston.

Charlie McAvoy had a goal and an assist for Boston, Zdeno Chara and Joakim Nordstrom also scored and Tuukka Rask made 38 saves.

At 42 years, 30 days, the 6-foot-9 Chara became the second-oldest defenseman in NHL history to score a playoff goal. Chris Chelios holds the record at 45 years, 86 days.

“If I contribute something offensively, it’s always a plus,” Chara said. “But my focus is always playing well defensively. I take a lot of pride in playing well defensively.”

Auston Matthews scored twice for Toronto. Zach Hyman and Travis Dermott also scored and Frederik Andersen stopped 25 shots.

“We had real good energy,” Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. “I didn’t think we had the kind of brain all that time that we wanted. Turned the puck over, two real big mistakes on the penalty kill. Just got in our own way a little bit.”

After the Maple Leafs overcame a 2-0 deficit to tie it early in the second period, Pastrnak put Boston back in front at 3:16 when he redirected a pass from Marchand on a 2-on-1. The Bruins then got a power play when Matthews went off for roughing, and Marchand whipped a backhand pass to a wide-open Pastrnak, who snapped the puck short-side on Andersen for his second goal in 1:35.

Chara made it 5-2 at 5:39 of the third.

“He’s a true professional. He’s a great leader,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Still a really solid hockey player. They’re trying to find ways to expose him and he’s trying to adapt to the new NHL and has. There’s a reason why he’s still playing and still effective. Not only is he hard, but he’s smart. He’s a very intelligent man and has been able to figure out a way to keep playing this game and be effective.”

Matthews scored on the power play with 8:08 left, and Dermott made it 5-4 through traffic with 6:33 remaining. Nordstrom scored into an empty net with two seconds to go.

“We did a lot of good things,” Toronto center John Tavares said. “We generated a lot of chances, got a lot of pucks to the net. We didn’t have our best start tonight, but we gave ourselves a good chance.”

(At) Dallas 5, Nashville 1: Roope Hintz and Alexander Radulov scored power-play goals on Dallas’ first two shots, and the Stars chased Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne with an early four-goal onslaught, evening the best-of-seven series at two games each.

Hintz added his second career playoff goal in the second period, on John Kingberg’s third assist of the game.

Ben Bishop stopped 34 shots. Bishop allowed a couple of soft goals in Game 3 in his home playoff debut with Dallas, when the Predators won their second consecutive game after the Stars won the series opener in Nashville.

Game 5 is Saturday in Nashville.

The Stars were 1 of 13 on the power play in the first three games of the Western Conference playoff series, but went 3 of 4 in the first period of Game 4. It was the first time they scored three power-play goals in one period of a playoff game since moving to Dallas before the 1993-94 season.

Andrew Cogliano and Mats Zuccarello also scored as part of the Stars’ four goals in eight shots against Rinne, before he was replaced by Juuse Saros less than 14 minutes into the game. Rinne, who started his 87th consecutive playoff game for Nashville, had stopped 40 of 42 shots in Game 3.

It was the third goal of the series for Zuccarello.

Dallas led 1-0 when Hintz scored on a pass from Klingberg only 3:42 into the game. The Stars were back on the power play only 90 seconds later, and converted again when Radulov got his second goal of the series .

The Stars had scored only 39 goals in the first period all season – through 82 regular-season games and then had none in the first three games of this series that were all decided by one goal.

Nashville hadn’t allowed three power-play goals in a single period this season, or faced a four-goal deficit after the first period.

The Predators didn’t score until more than eight minutes into the third period, when Roman Josi shot from the slot in the middle of the circles. The puck whizzed to the right of Bishop, who had a lot of traffic in front of him.

Saros stopped 20 of 21 shots.

(At) Colorado 3, Calgary 2, OT: Mikko Rantanen scored on a slap shot 10:23 into overtime after tying the game with a goal late in regulation and the Colorado Avalanche rallied for a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night to take a 3-1 lead in the teams’ best-of-seven series.

Moments after weathering a penalty, Carl Soderberg got the puck and sent a pass to Rantanen, who lined a shot past Mike Smith before being mobbed by teammates.

Colorado trailed 2-0 in the third period, with J.T. Compher starting the comeback on a rebound and Rantanen tying it on a power-play goal with 2:50 left.

Elias Lindholm and Derek Ryan had goals for the Flames, the top seed in the West. They face a must-win scenario when the series returns to Calgary for Game 5 on Friday. The Flames are trying to avoid a similar fate as Tampa Bay, the No. 1 seed in the East who lost to Columbus in the first round.

Philipp Grubauer stopped 35 shots, including one in OT with his left pad while sprawled on the ice.

Smith had another busy night in stopping 49 of 52 shots. He faced 56 in a 6-2 loss in Game 3.

The 37-year-old Smith appeared to take a skate to his leg when Avalanche forward Colin Wilson slid into him in the first period. Smith was briefly checked out before settling into a groove.

Grubauer had the biggest save of the night early in overtime while down on the ice and Mikael Backlund with the puck on his stick down low. Grubauer waited a moment and then slightly raised his left pad just as Backlund shot it. The puck hit the middle of Grubauer’s pad.

Compher had a breakaway in overtime and Smith gambled by coming out of the net to challenge him. Compher got around Smith, only to send the puck wide. Later, Colorado withstood a penalty on Ian Cole for a delay after sending the puck out of play.

Calgary was seemingly in control after Ryan extended the lead to 2-0 with 13:02 remaining after batting in a rebound. Just over a minute later, Compher sent a shot past Smith following a scramble in front of the net. Then, Rantanen tipped in a shot to tie it up. The Avalanche had a chance to win it in regulation when the Flames took a delay of game penalty, but couldn’t capitalize.

Lindholm scored his first goal of the series at 3:25 of the second period. His goal arrived just six seconds after Erik Johnson took a penalty for high sticking. The Flames have at least one power-play goal in all four contests.

Shortly after Lindholm’s goal, Smith made a diving save with his left arm on a shot from Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog. And shortly after that, Landeskog clanged a shot off the post.

Smith withstood a barrage of shots in the first period – plus a crash with Wilson, who wiped out and slid skate-first into Smith. They both ended up on the ice as trainers came out to check on Smith.

This certainly caught the attention of Colorado: Columbus upsetting top-seeded Tampa Bay in an Eastern Conference first-round series. The Avs are hoping to follow suit against the Flames.

“It doesn’t happen often,” Rantanen said. “In the NHL, it can happen. The differences are not huge.”