Maple Leafs 4, Bruins 3 (SO)
Rookie Nazem Kadri scored in the second round of the shootout and fellow first-year star James Reimer stopped all three attempts in the extra session as the Toronto Maple Leafs kept their slim postseason chances alive with a 4-3 road triumph over the Boston Bruins on Thursday.
Joffrey Lupul collected two goals and an assist and defenseman Luke Schenn scored a goal and set up another for Toronto (36-32-10), which recorded its fifth win in six outings. The Maple Leafs trail the Buffalo Sabres (39-29-9) and New York Rangers (41-32-5) by five points for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference standings.
Phil Kessel notched a pair of assists against his former team and Mikhail Grabovski had a chance to end the game in overtime, but his penalty shot was denied by Tim Thomas.
The seventh overall pick of the 2009 draft, Kadri netted the lone tally in the shootout when his backhander sailed under the crossbar. Reimer, who finished with 35 saves, denied Rich Peverley in the final round to end the game.
Rookie Brad Marchand collected his fifth shorthanded goal of the season and David Krejci and defenseman Andrew Ference tallied in a span of nearly 6 1/2 minutes in the second period for Boston (43-23-11), which would have claimed its second Northeast Division title in three years with a victory.
Thomas finished with 28 saves to fall to 33-10-9 on the season.