Maple Leafs at Bruins
The Toronto Maple Leafs visit the Boston Bruins on Saturday in the back end of a home-and-home series and will not have leading scorer Auston Matthews for the third straight game because of an upper-body injury. Toronto rallied for a 3-2 victory Friday behind two goals from James van Riemsdyk - the second coming with one minute left in regulation - before Patrick Marleau ended it in overtime.
"Obviously, the guys did a good job coming back,'' Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock told reporters. "A good night for our team. Obviously, it looked like we were getting nothing and suddenly you get two (points). That's positive.'' Toronto tries for its sixth straight victory over Boston while hoping to win for only the second time in its last six road games. The Bruins fell to 0-2-3 versus the Eastern Conference this season but welcomed the return of Brad Marchand, who had an assist Friday after missing two games with a concussion and is second on the team with eight goals and 15 points. Boston's David Pastrnak scored his club-best 10th goal Friday, tallying for the second straight game and giving him 17 points this season.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, CBC, CITY (Toronto), NESN (Boston)
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (11-7-0): Mitch Marner assisted on the final two goals Friday and boasts five in the last four games, but has only a goal and 10 assists this season after recording 19 goals and 61 points as a rookie in 2016-17. "It's great to see Mitch (Marner) be important at the end and get a couple of points,'' Babcock said. "He's looking for some positive reinforcement from the game and if you work real hard the game usually rewards you, so good for him." Curtis McElhinney (1-1-0, 4.10 goals-against average, .869 save percentage this season) is expected to play goal Saturday after Frederik Andersen improved to 9-0-0 versus the Bruins on Friday.
ABOUT THE BRUINS (6-5-4): Patrice Bergeron scored in his second straight game Friday and has 11 points (four goals) in 10 games this season. Noel Acciari returned Friday after missing 13 games with a broken finger and was a minus-1 in 14:47 of ice time. Tuukka Rask (3-5-2, 2.77, .903 this season), who is 15-5-2, 2.07, .927 versus Toronto, will start in goal after Anton Khudobin took the loss Friday.
OVERTIME
1. Marleau, who has 515 goals - tied for 38th all-time with Pierre Turgeon, has three goals and two assists in his last six games.
2. Boston killed 5-of-6 penalties Friday, allowing a power-play goal for the first time in seven games.
3. Matthews leads Toronto with 10 goals and 19 points.