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 The Maple Leafs looked bad during a 4-1 loss to the Bruins late
last month and now they regard it as something of a turning point in
their early-season fortunes.
Toronto went a long way towards proving that point as right winger
Phil Kessel scored the first two goals of a 6-1 victory over the
Bruins on Wednesday.
"I think we really felt we owed them one," said center Peter Holland
who scored the final Maple Leafs goal. "The last time Boston was in
we felt a little embarrassed about our effort and we wanted to make
sure we came out strong."
They did.
"We stunk the joint out," Bruins coach Claude Julien said.
Defenseman Morgan Rielly, center Tyler Bozak and left winger James
van Riemsdyk also scored for the Maple Leafs who won their third
straight game and ended Boston's five-game winning streak.
Van Riemsdyk, Bozak and defenseman Cody Franson each had two assists
for Toronto.
Maple Leafs goaltender Jonathan Bernier made 25 saves.
Defenseman Dennis Seidenberg scored for Boston.
"That's the only thing we did as a team, we all played poorly,"
Bruins center Chris Kelly said.
The Maple Leafs are 6-1-1 since the bad loss to Boston.
"I think the last game we played against them, there was a lot of
emotion and a lot of frustration and a lot of things were going on
in our group," Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle said. "It was time to
say, hey, enough is enough, this isn't cutting it. We have to change
the way we're approaching things, and that's coaching included. That
was enough."
"We were kind of slow and disorganized in our own zone," Bruins
right winger Reilly Smith said. "We were hemmed in our own zone too
much and it pretty much fell apart. It started the first couple of
shifts and then just got worse."
The Maple Leafs (9-5-2) dominated the Bruins (10-7-0) in the second
period, scoring the first four goals of the period before Boston
could answer.
"Tonight I thought was one of our best starts of the year," Carlyle
said. "It might have been our best. We were on the puck and we were
skating."
Bruins starting goaltender Tuukka Rask, who made just 12 saves on 16
shots, was replaced by Niklas Svedberg after the third goal of the
second period. Svedberg made 15 saves the rest of the way.
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The Maple Leafs scored their third power-play goal of the game in
the third period when Holland got his fourth of the season at 7:21
while Left winger Daniel Paille was off for high-sticking.
Kessel started the scoring at 6:46 of the first period after Bruins
defenseman Zach Trotman failed to control a clearing flip along the
boards by Maple Leafs defenseman Dion Phaneuf. Kessel picked up the
puck, steamed down the right wing and snapped a shot to the top left
corner.
The Maple Leafs scored three goals in the first 3:32 of the second
period to take a 4-0 led.
Kessel scored his second of the game and 10th of the season on a
shot from the left faceoff circle just 18 seconds into the period.
Rielly scored his second goal of the season at 1:34 on the big
rebound of Holland's shot.
Bozak scored his sixth of the season on the power play with Bruins
center Seth Griffith off for tripping.
Van Riemsdyk scored his seventh of the season on the power play at
9:51 of the second on the third shot on Svedberg while Bruins
defenseman Dougie Hamilton was off for holding.
Seidenberg notched his second goal of the season for Boston at14:16
of the second to make the score 5-1.
"I think we're improving," Kessel said. "We just have to keep
going."
"We've got to get back to basics," Smith said.
NOTES: C Daniel Winnik (head) returned to the Toronto lineup after
being held out of games Saturday and Sunday as a precaution. He lost
consciousness briefly last Thursday in a 4-3 shootout loss at
Colorado when he was upended and his head hit the ice. ... Bruins C
David Krejci (undisclosed injury) did not play Wednesday and will
also miss the game on Thursday at Montreal against the Canadiens. He
did not play in the win over New Jersey on Monday. ... LW Josh Leivo
was recalled from the Toronto Marlies of the AHL on Tuesday. ... The
Maple Leafs play their next game at home on Friday against the
Pittsburgh Penguins.
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