Bruins and Maple Leafs' Dramatic Game 7 Ended as Always Does With Boston Winning

The fourth Round 1 meeting between the Bruins and the Leafs in 12 years required Game 7, as it always has.

The takes, narratives, tropes, and dramatics persisted, as they always have. But this one felt different from the start, even though we know it ended as it always does.

Perhaps the feeling that the Leafs could do it this time started last season when the Core 4 – Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares – finally made it past the first round. It was against the Lightning, not the Bruins, and their run ended in the second round. But they desperately needed to start somewhere.

Or perhaps it was reinforced when the Presidents' Trophy-winning Bruins blew a 3-1 series lead to the No. 8-seeded Panthers. Despite seemingly having that series in control, Boston's first-round series ended in a flash and bitter disappointment.

But the script for the Leafs remained typical. As in typical of the heartbreak their fans and the organization have experienced since their last Stanley Cup win in 1967.

Game 7 overtime. Typical everyone. No matter how much more even the series was this time around, no matter how much swearing Nylander did on the bench or scoring he did on the ice, the fates were not tempted. David Pastrňák arrived to the series late, but still in time to ruin the Leafs' party with a series-clinching goal at 1:43 in OT.

And in typical Bruins fashion, the seventh game was their best of the series.

"We started on time, we weren't being denied to get to the net," head coach Jim Montgomery said postgame. "The speed with which we played, especially offensively, and the way we held on to pucks, the way our defensemen were really involved. We were connected as five guys in all three zones, especially with the puck."

At first, it didn't seem like this was a game worthy of such a dramatic moment.

Naturally, we got zero goals in the first two periods. We did get some sloppy puck-handling from the Bruins, some excellent penalty killing from the Leafs when the Bruins did wake up, and some outstanding work from Bruins' star of the series goaltender Jeremy Swayman through 40. But the first two goals of Game 7 came halfway through the third.

William Nylander, who'd owned the Leafs' last three goals despite struggling with migraines throughout the series, struck first with 10:59 left in regulation. Auston Matthews, who recovered after being held out of Games 5 and 6 due to an illness/injury, dished the feed.

"All I'll say is the way the group pulled together this last week, and through the season -- this group was different this year," said head coach Sheldon Keefe, who admitted this would fall on deaf ears. "The core isn't different, but the guys around them are different, and the feeling around the team was different. We played different. I thought we showed signs in this series of a team that could win."

They did. And then came the typical Bruins.

Hampus Lindholm's first goal of the series came less than two minutes after Nylander's.

Headed into this overtime, you realized you no longer knew anything about the Boston Bruins. You weren't so sure about the Toronto Maple Leafs anymore, either. Yet there they were, facing down another opportunity to re-decide those things.

Montgomery agreed it felt different -- better.

"Last year was such an empty feeling, us having to go to a Game 7, having to go to overtime," he said. "It was the exact same, but you could feel there was a big difference in our room all night long. Going into overtime, I said to the staff: 'We've gone to overtime in the playoffs four times now, and we didn't feel like we were going to seize the moment. I've never felt this confident about our group going into overtime.' You could just tell there was a difference in our attitude."

The stage was set for Pastrňák's heroics. After being called out by Montgomery after Game 6, Boston's top offensive player ended proceedings. It was your typical Pastrňák goal, combining high skill with high effort, chasing a loose puck down in the offensive zone and putting it past Ilya Samsonov with a series of dekes.

The Bruins narrowly avoided becoming the first team in NHL history to blow two consecutive 3-1 Round 1 leads, as the Leafs narrowly lost another Round 1, Game 7.

The repercussions for the Core 4 and beyond will not be narrow. The Bruins, once again, will exhale for the evening. They will keep playing hockey.

But in typical fashion, the Original Six rivalry delivered the drama on a Saturday night in Boston. And in the end, it was the typical result.