After dominating the first-round series and taking a solid 3-1 lead, the Boston Bruins found themselves on the verge of collapsing for the second consecutive year entering a deciding Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs on May 4 with the series tied at 3-3.
The Bruins did enough to get past Toronto, beating the Leafs 2-1 in overtime thanks to a goal by called-out David Pastrnak, and Boston captain Brad Marchand lost no time trolling his opponent right after Game 7 was over.
“Just [believe],” Marchand told Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas on the ice during a postgame interview on May 4 after beating Toronto in Game 7.
Bukauskas asked Marchand about beating the Leafs in another Game 7 for the fourth time in as many opportunities since the 2013 playoffs when both teams met in series-deciding contests in recent years.
Marchand used one of Toronto’s rallying cries in a play of words saying that the Bruins just “believed” which sounds similar to Toronto’s hashtag on X “#BeLeaf.”
David Pastrnak Gets Called Out, Steps Up & Scores Series-Winning Goal
It took three periods and overtime for the Bruins to avoid making history for the bad, but they eliminated Toronto to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after getting eliminated by the Florida Panthers in last year’s first-round matchup.
Boston will face Florida once again in this year’s playoffs, only now in an Eastern Conference Semifinals matchup scheduled to start with Game 1 on Monday, May 6.
Pastrnak scored the second goal of Game 7 for the Bruins on a ridiculous off-the-boards pass by teammate Mapus Lindholm 1:54 minutes into OT. Lindholm had previously scored the game-tying goal for Boston in the third period.
While Lindholm’s pass was a genius play by the defenseman, it’s also fair to say that Toronto’s defense made things a bit easier than they should to Pastrnak, who glided into their zone, got the puck in front of the Leafs’ net, and had no problem beating Ilya Samsonov to give Boston the win.
After the Game 6 loss to the Leafs, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery called out Pastrnak, saying that “Pasta needs to step up” during his postgame press conference. According to the coach, talking to reporters ahead of Game 7, Pastrnak and him “have a real healthy, communicative relationship” and the forward was “ready to go.”
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Pastrnak entered Game 7 boasting a two-game goalscoring draught as he was held off the board by the Leafs in Games 5 and 6.
Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman, who started Game 1 but was replaced by Linus Ulmark in Game 2, had lost two consecutive games ahead of the deciding Game 7 on Saturday.
None of that seemed to affect Boston’s players’ morale, as Pastrnak put the puck inside the Leafs’ goal for one final time in the first-round series while Swayman started on goal, allowed just one score on a defensive error, and stopped 30 of 31 shots on Saturday.
“[Montgomery’s message] obviously helped,” Pastrnak told reporters in his postgame press conference on May 4 after the Game 7 win. “Jimmy said the stuff he did after Game 6. I told him, ‘If I am the coach and you are me, I would say the same thing.’ So, I had no problem of him saying that.
[Montgomery’s] trying to bring the best out of every single player and he expects more. I just took it as a man and tried to be better. I admitted I need to be better. I still have a ways to be better.”
With his Game 7 goal, Pastrnak finished the first-round series against the Leafs with 5 total points including 3 goals and 2 assists, trailing only captain Brad Marchand (8 points) and tied with Jake DeBrusk.
Speaking after the game, Swayman said he was “so happy for [Pastrnak],” adding he felt the same for “all of the guys in the locker room.”
“There was no doubt in this locker room that he was going to prevail,” Swayman said about Pastrnak leveling up and clinching the first-round series for the Bruins in Game 7, via NESN.
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