BOSTON — David Pastrnak had three goals and three assists as the Boston Bruins thumped the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-3 on Saturday to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.
Jake DeBrusk, Kevan Miller, Rick Nash and David Krejci also scored for Boston. Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand each added four assists and Torey Krug had three.
Tuukka Rask stopped 30 shots for the Bruins.
Mitch Marner, with a goal and an assist, Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk replied for the Leafs. Frederik Andersen allowed three goals on five shots before getting pulled at a raucous TD Garden. Curtis McElhinney made 19 saves in relief.
The Eastern Conference quarterfinal now switches to Air Canada Centre for Games 3 and 4 on Monday and Thursday.
Boston’s top line of Pastrnak, Marchand and Bergeron combined for six points in Boston’s 5-1 victory in Game 1.
They accomplished the same feat during a frantic 10-minute stretch of Saturday’s first period, and now have 20 points through six periods against the floundering Leafs.
The Bruins grabbed the lead at 5:26 when Pastrnak picked up the puck in front of Andersen and made a slick move to score his second goal of the series.
A Boston power play that went 3 for 6 in the opener then went to work after Toronto was penalized for too many men on the ice, with DeBrusk outmuscling Leafs defenceman Nikita Zaitev, who would be on for all four first-period goals, in front to redirect Krug’s feed past Andersen at 9:46.
The goal came moments after Toronto’s Kasperi Kapanen rang a shot off the post on a shorthanded breakaway.
Boston’s deluge continued at 12:13 when Miller was allowed way too much time and space in the corner before firing a puck in front that deflected in off Zaitsev.
That was it for Andersen, but the Bruins kept coming and went back to the power play when Ron Hainsey jumped Tim Schaller after he hit Marner.
Nash buried a rebound on McElhinney just 11 seconds later at the 15-minute mark to make it 4-0 — the 11th power-play goal Toronto has given up in its last seven games.
Already minus the suspended Nazem Kadri and looking for any kind of spark, Leafs head coach Mike Babcock put his lines in a blender to start the second period, and it paid off when Marner took a nice feed from Zach Hyman at 1:22 to make it 4-1.
But the Bruins got that one back when Hainsey’s pass through the neutral zone was intercepted by Krejci, who eventually went to the net to tip home Pastrnak’s shot — just Boston’s 10th of the game at that point — at 3:46 to stretch the lead to 5-1.
Toronto cut the deficit back down to three at 9:02 when Bozak scored following some good work from Connor Brown to win a puck battle — a rarity on this night for the Leafs.
Pastrnak scored his second of the night, and eighth point of the series, with 7:26 remaining when he was allowed to walk out from behind the net untouched after Marchand lost the handle on a breakaway.
Van Riemsdyk scored for Toronto on the power play at 14:53.
Pastrnak sealed his hat trick at 18:24 with Marchand and Bergeron picking up assists.
Notes: Toronto was without Kadri after he was suspended three games by the NHL for his retaliatory hit on Boston forward Tommy Wingels in the third period of Game 1. Wingels took part in Saturday’s morning skate, but didn’t play. … Leafs forward Leo Komarov appeared to hurt his left knee in a collision with Miller in the second period and did not return. … The Bruins announced Saturday that they will donate US$200,000 to the Humboldt Broncos community relief efforts in the wake of last week’s bus crash. … McElhinney made just the second playoff appearance of his career. The other — also in relief — came back in 2009 with Calgary. … Game 5, if necessary, is set for next Saturday in Boston.
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THE CANADIAN PRESS