The Boston Bruins delivered a devastating blow to Toronto's late drive to make the playoffs, defeating the Maple Leafs 6-2 in the opening end of a home-and-home series on Tuesday night.
Boston had lost its previous three games and nine of 11.
Bruins foward Glenn Murray whoops it up in Tuesday's 6-2 triumph.
(Frank Gunn/Associated Press)
"I cannot say enough about the guys tonight," Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. "Guys really stepped up."
Marco Sturm and rookie David Krejci had one goal and one assist apiece as the Bruins (38-28-10) retained the eighth and final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.
The Washington Capitals trail Boston by two points, the Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres sit five points behind the Bruins and Toronto is six points back.
"There was a lot at stake," Julien said. "My message to the guys was, 'If you guys give everything you have got, we will deal with the consequences later, but lay it all on the line tonight.'"
Glen Murray, Shawn Thornton, Phil Kessel and Jeremy Reich, with an empty-netter, rounded out the scoring in support of Bruins netminder Tim Thomas, who made 28 saves.
Matt Lashoff and Milan Lucic had two assists apiece.
"We needed this badly," Thomas said. "Our backs have been up against the wall.
"We have not come through every time, but we have come through a few times. We're sticking together, and trying to do what we have to do to get ourselves in the playoffs."
Jason Blake and Alexei Ponikarovsky replied for the Maple Leafs (35-32-10), winners of three straight games and 12-4-1 in the
last 17.
Vesa Toskala surrendered five goals on 29 shots.
"We have another five games and we will keep battling for it," Ponikarovsky vowed.
"This is disappointing for us," Maple Leafs forward Alex Steen said. "Right now, our focus remains on the last playoff spot."
Puck banks in off Murray's skate
Murray was credited with opening the scoring 3:57 into the contest as the puck banked off his left skate and squirted between Toskala's pads.
Boston took a 2-0 lead just 72 seconds into the second period, when Krejci gathered up a Sturm rebound and tallied his fourth on a sweeping backhand.
Krejci returned the favour by sending a pass between Bryan McCabe and Dominic Moore of the Maple Leafs to Sturm, who swept it
into the net for his 25th, a power-play goal at 8:20.
Blake put Toronto on the board with 4:30 left in the period, tucking his 14th behind Thomas off a splendid rush by defenceman Pavel Kubina.
But Thornton replied 3:05 into the third period as he beat Toskala with a backhand pass for his fourth.
After Ponikarovsky's 18th breathed life into the Maple Leafs at 14:44, Kessel whacked in Glen Metropolit's centring pass to complete the scoring with 3:45 remaining.
"That was a tough one," Maple Leafs forward Matt Stajan said. "You get behind that team and they clog up the neutral zone and you find yourself doing things you should not be doing, like turning pucks over."
Toronto has been a gracious host of late, losing five of its last seven home games.
Conversely, the Maple Leafs have gone 8-0-1 in their last nine road games.
The rivalry resumes Thursday night in Boston (7 p.m. ET).
With files from the Canadian Press
