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

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TORONTO — Pavel Zacha scored twice in the third period 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 period as Boston (39-7-5) snapped a three-game winless streak. A.J. Greer also scored in the final period.

Linus Ullmark made 33 saves for the win in net.

Mitch Marner scored on the power play, his 19th goal of the season, for Toronto (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 consecutive game in net for Toronto.

Samsonov was 5-1-1 over 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 from the slot from David Pastrnak, who leads Boston with 38 goals.

Pastrnak also had the best chance of the first period with 1:17 to go, slipping between two Leafs defencemen and seemingly dekeing Samsonov out of position. But the Toronto goaltender slid across his crease and got a pad out to stop the shot from in close.

Despite all of Boston’s scoring opportunities, Toronto outshot the Bruins 14-13 in the first 20 minutes of play.

Forbort snapped home a short-handed goal 6:57 into the second. He was sent a backhand pass from the boards by Charlie Coyle as he skated into the slot unmarked.

Marner replied on the power play 2:28 later. After a long leading pass off the boards from Samsonov, Marner skated through the left faceoff circle and snapped a shot past Ullmark to tie it 1-1. 

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

Early in the third, Toronto centre David Kampf had his arm around a hard-charging Greer and let go of his own stick to avoid taking a penalty. Greer took advantage of the opening and snapped a shot from the hash marks past Samsonov to make it 3-1 for the Bruins.

Leafs forward Wayne Simmonds immediately dropped the gloves at the ensuing faceoff, squaring up with Greer. Simmonds wobbled Greer with a hard shot to the chin and fell on top of him, ending the fight. Both of them took a five-minute major for fighting but Greer was sent to the locker room after having his bell rung.

Jarnkrok swatted in a rebound off of Ullmark’s pads after a shot from Mark Giordano deflected out to the slot at 8:38. As the Leafs were celebrating the goal, Toronto’s Michael Bunting got into a scrap with Coyle behind the Bruins net and both received roughing penalties.

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

Zacha put away his second of the night 3:11 later. Standing just a few feet from Samsonov’s crease, he dropped to a knee to one-time a pass from David Krejci into the net.

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

“The joke got a few guys and they were already pretty upset that we didn’t give it to John so I had to turn it over pretty quick,” laughed Giordano.

UP NEXT — It was both teams’ final game before the all-star break. 

Toronto won’t play again until Feb. 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 by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2023.

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press