The final game in Toronto in this series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins was tonight. The fans in Toronto were hoping and cheering for another win from the Leafs, the first at home of the playoffs. Back in Boston there was concern that for another year the team would lose after being ahead 3-1 in the series. Two destinations were possible: Boston on Saturday for game seven or Florida next week for round two. Where did we end up?
The playoff crowd inside Scotiabank Arena does their job. Every instance of physical play against the Bruins is met with an eruption of cheers. "Go Leafs Go" echoes throughout the rafters. Neither team has an edge right away, we don't get our first official shot on goal for three minutes. One icing is called early, but other than that no whistles. Good play by both teams has the game moving up and down the ice.
The Maple Leafs are up to four shots on net after eight minutes. None for Boston. There's a kerfuffle at the Bruins net after Swayman makes a save, Marchand gets mouthy and he gets knocked to the ice. In front of the refs. They don't call anything. Now he knows how we all feel.
The whole team is coming together to defend the net, keeping the Bruins from scoring first. It's a complete team for the first time in this series possibly.
The crowd is cheering every chance they get. Close calls, blocks, saves, hits. The passion is pouring out of the crowd onto the ice. They're ready to explode. They need a goal.
Brad Marchand continues his series long hunt of Tyler Bertuzzi, trying to goad him into a penalty. It backfires, Marchand gets the call. The Maple Leafs will attempt to score on the powerplay once again.
The powerplay keeps ahold of then puck much better. Offensive zone for the first minute of the powerplay. More passing chances, but the Bruins penalty kill is clogging up the centre of the ice. Both units get chances, the crowd roars in agony at each save. Yet another goal-less powerplay.
The clock counts down to the end of the first period. The Leafs rush the Bruins zone, control the puck. Knies gets right in front of Swayman and after a shot he dives at the rebound, poking, poking, poking. Whistle. Horn. First period ends. The Bruins try to start something but the Leafs, after some yelling from Knies, don't fall for it.
No goals after the first period. Maple Leafs lead in shots 12-1.
The Maple Leafs begin the second period by, as they do, almost scoring.
They are denied by Swayman but get another chance with the man advantage after David Pastrňák gets a double minor for high sticking and drawing blood.
The powerplay has troubles this time around. Each entry is met with a wall of Bruins defense, who steal the puck and clear it out forcing the Leafs to skate the ice and come back in. They don't get a shot on net until the second half of the double minor. How does the man advantage make this team so awful?
The Leafs continue to push but the Bruins start to make some strides offensively. They have quadrupled their shot total in five minutes, now having four shots on goal at the mid-game mark.
While the Leafs powerplay makes complaining about non-calls moot, this one is pretty awful.
Joseph Woll is standing up after having a very cold first half of the game. The Bruins are taking over the puck more, and forcing him to slide around the crease, and smother more rebounds.
After another net front scramble by the Bruins, Joseph Woll is called for tripping. Lyubushkin thinks it's him at first and he heads to the box, but John Tavares is sent to the box to serve for Woll.
Joel Edmundson is working hard on the penalty kill. Blocking shots, and clearing pucks, and getting big cheers from the crowd for it. The hard work pays off and the Bruins don't score on the powerplay.
When Tavares is sprung from the box, he and Nylander team up to take the game to Swayman, but he keeps on denying. Both teams get some good zone time and force the goalies to work extra hard to keep from being the first one to let in a goal. a very tense few minutes but Woll comes up strong yet again.
As the clock ticks under one minute left in the second, William Nylander ducks and dodgers around the Bruins zone, and finally has a chance to shoot from the point, and it's the first of the game. The Maple Leafs end the second period with a goal, and head to the dressing room with their heads held high.
William Nylander's first goal in 14 games. After 40 the Leafs lead 1-0, and 20-14 in shots.
The Maple Leafs start the third off physically against the Bruins and this has Boston coach Jim Montgomery yelling at the refs, emphatically gesturing about missed calls, and finally knowing what it's like to play against the Bruins.
Boston is getting plenty of chances in the first five minutes. Lots of cheers for Woll and blocked shots, but lots of tense moments as everyone holds their breath as well.
Maple Leafs defenders, a bouncing puck, and Joseph Woll all step up to stop the Bruins in a frantic session of "Where did the puck go?". Shots, rebounds, amazing diving saves, Morgan Rielly deflecting pucks off his torso. It all happens and the puck stays out until Woll can smother it.
The game continues to sit in the Leafs end, with the Bruins controlling play and they keep returning every time they're kicked out. Too much Boston.
The Maple Leafs turn it around and spend just over a minute in the Bruins end, but Swayman does that annoying thing he does when he doesn't let the puck go in.
There's no stopping the pressure from Boston. Joseph Woll stays on top of his game, and keeps the Bruins at bay. Five long minutes to go...
There's an icing call, but lines are changing while the whistle is blown so there's a long delay as the refs figure out which Leaf should be on the ice. A nice breather for both teams.
It's a very tense time for everyone during these final few minutes. So tense we forget we're supposed to be writing here. Max Domi gets everyone on their feet with a line change breakaway, but he shoots it off the mask and there's no one there to try and get the rebound.
Matthew Knies springs William Nylander on his own breakaway, and puts it between Swaymans legs for his second goal of the night!
Two minutes to go and the Bruins net is empty. Plenty of time in the Leafs end, but the Leafs don't make it easy for Boston. One minute to play, the crowd is on it's feet. Knies, Nylander, Holmberg team up to kill some time. Woll makes one final save and that is it.
The Toronto Maple Leafs shutout the Boston Bruins on home ice.
Okay, well, technically not. The Bruins final shot actually made it into the net with a tenth of a second left on the clock. So we have a face off, which just turns into everyone yelling and slashing each other, and what did they think would happen?
The Maple Leafs have played two great games when it mattered (powerplay aside), and need to keep this up on Saturday night.
Once again, we will face off against the Boston Bruins in a round one game seven.
This will go fine.