TORONTO -- Auston Matthews scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, Patrick Marleau had two goals, and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins 4-2 on Monday night in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.
James van Riemsdyk also scored and Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly added two assists each to help Toronto pull to 2-1 in the best-of-seven set. Frederik Andersen stopped 40 shots.
Adam McQuaid and Zdeno Chara had the goals for Boston, Sean Kuraly had two assists, and Tuukka Rask finished with 26 saves.
The Maple Leafs will look to even the series at home in Game 4 on Thursday night.
Matthews was held without a point through 120 minutes where Toronto was outscored, outmuscled and outplayed in losing by a combined 12-4 margin at Boston. However he came through to snap a 2-2 tie with 5:13 left in the second when he rifled a shot short-side highs on Rask from a sharp angle after a great feed down low by William Nylander.
Boston's top line of David Pastrnak (four goals, five assists), Brad Marchand (one goal, five assists) and Patrice Bergeron (five assists) totaled 20 points through the first six periods of the series while also holding Matthews and Toronto's top unit off the scoresheet.
But the Maple Leafs finally had an answer on this night as the Bruins' trio failed to find the range.
The Boston power play -- which went 5 for 10 in the first two games -- got its first opportunity early in the third, but Pastrnak hit the post off a feed from Rick Nash.
The Maple Leafs finally sealed it with 3:35 left when Marleau scored his second of night on a 2-on-1 rush, firing a shot past Rask for the 70th career playoff goal.
Pulled after allowing three goals on five shots in the first period of Game 2, Andersen robbed Pastrnak on a jaw-dropping diving stick save with Rask on the bench for an extra skater with just over two minutes to go to help preserve Toronto's win.
Toronto led 1-0 after the first, but Boston tied it at 3:06 of the second when McQuaid's shot from the point squeezed under Andersen's pad and dribbled in. The goal came moments after Andersen made a stellar glove save from his belly on David Krejci with Nash and Travis Dermott battling in the blue paint.
The Maple Leafs went back ahead 43 seconds later when Marner controlled a pass off the boards from Rielly before feeding Marleau in front.
But the Bruins again responded when Chara ripped a shot off Andersen's mask and in from an impossible angle at 6:19.
Toronto's Kasperi Kapanen, who hit the post early his team's ugly 7-3 loss in Game 2, found iron again later in the period on a shot that beat Rask clean, but Matthews would make no mistake later in the period.
The Maple Leafs had a number of chances early as they returned to a boisterous Air Canada Centre before a controversial sequence led to the opening goal.
Boston was left fuming after center Riley Nash, who returned to the lineup after suffering an ear laceration on March 31, was ruled to have put the puck directly over the glass for a delay of game penalty with just over three minutes left in the first, even though replays suggested otherwise.
Toronto, which was 1 for 7 with the man advantage through the first two games, made the Bruins pay just seven seconds later when van Riemsdyk scored his second goal of the series, slipping the rebound of Tyler Bozak's initial shot through Rask at 17:05 to give the Leafs their first lead of the series.
The Maple Leafs had a couple of other opportunities earlier in the period, but Rask stretched to rob Andreas Johnsson with a great save before Kapanen didn't get all of his backhand attempt on a breakaway.
DEVILS 5, LIGHTNING 2
NEWARK, N.J. — Taylor Hall had a goal and two assists, setting up Stefan Noesen’s game-winner with 7:05 play, and the New Jersey Devils scored four times in the third to claw their way back into their first-round series with Tampa Bay on Monday night.
Rookie Will Butcher had a power-play goal earlier in the third to tie the score 2-all, and Blake Coleman and Ben Lovejoy added empty net goals late. Cory Schneider made 34 saves while starting in place of Keith Kinkaid and giving the Devils a chance in their first playoff series since 2012.
Schneider, who seemed to hurt his groin in a collision with Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh midway through the final period, survived a late power play to nail down the victory.
Alex Killorn and Steven Stamkos each had a power-play goal and an assist for the Lightning. Nikita Kucherov added two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves in the game that had a major scrum with 23 seconds to go.
SUNDAY’S LATE GAME
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3, KINGS 2
LOS ANGELES — James Neal scored the tiebreaking goal with 5:37 to play, and the Vegas Golden Knights rallied from a third-period deficit to move to the brink of the expansion franchise’s first playoff series victory with a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.
Cody Eakin tied it with 13:50 left, and William Karlsson scored 21 seconds after Neal’s goal in a third-period flurry for the Golden Knights, whose storybook debut season just keeps getting more exciting and more outlandish.
After opening their first postseason series with two home victories, the hockey upstarts from the desert took a 3-0 series lead by coolly winning their first road playoff game in front of an angry sellout crowd at Staples Center, where two recent Stanley Cup banners hang above the ice.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 37 saves for the Golden Knights, who became the first team to take a 3-0 series lead in this postseason.
Vegas will go for a sweep in Game 4 today in Los Angeles.
Sports on 04/17/2018