Bruins at Maple Leafs
Coming off a season-saving victory, the Toronto Maple Leafs remain in must-win mode when they host the Boston Bruins on Thursday night. Toronto snapped an eight-game losing streak and kept its fleeting postseason hopes alive with a 3-2 victory over Calgary on Tuesday, though coach Randy Carlyle was quick to point out it wasn't a masterpiece. “We didn’t paint a Mona Lisa here tonight,” Carlyle said after the Maple Leafs pulled within a point of Columbus for the second wild card in the East.
The Maple Leafs have played two more games than the Blue Jackets and now must contend with an old nemesis in the Bruins, who suffered their first regulation defeat in 17 games (15-1-1) and had their nine-game road winning streak halted in a 3-2 loss at Detroit on Wednesday. Boston, which holds a one-point lead over St. Louis in the race for the Presidents' Trophy, hasn't lost two in a row since its first two games following the Olympics. The Bruins are 13-2-0 in the second game of back-to-backs.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, TSN, RDS2 (Toronto), NESN (Boston)
ABOUT THE BRUINS (52-18-6): Jarome Iginla, who scored 13 goals in March to earn the league's First Star of the month, sat out Wednesday's loss due to a lower-body injury - although coach Claude Julien said he would have played if it had been a playoff game. With Tuukka Rask taking the loss versus the Red Wings, Chad Johnson could be putting his six-start winning streak on the line against Toronto. Johnson is unbeaten in regulation in his last 12 starts (11-0-1) and earned the victory in his only appearance against the Maple Leafs, making 30 saves in a 5-2 win at Toronto on Dec. 8.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (37-32-8): Toronto, which allowed an average of four goals during the eight-game skid, held an opponent to fewer than three tallies for the first time since a 3-2 win at Los Angeles on March 13. Jonathan Bernier turned aside 38 shots in a 4-3 win at Boston on Jan. 14, but he has been torched for 14 goals in three career starts against the Bruins. Leading scorer Phil Kessel, who had X-rays after taking a puck off the foot in Saturday's game versus Detroit, smashed his stick on the bench after he was struck again on the foot Tuesday and wound up logging only 17 1/2 minutes of ice time.
OVERTIME
1. Boston has won seven of the last nine meetings, not including last season's stunning playoff series victory.
2. Kessel has three goals and nine assists in 25 games versus Boston, which traded him to Toronto after the 2008-09 season.
3. Bruins C Patrice Bergeron had his seven-game goal-scoring streak snapped on Wednesday but extended his points string to nine games.
OVERTIME: Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 3