NHL PLAYOFFS
BRUINS 3, MAPLE LEAFS 1
TORONTO -- Brad Marchand scored the go-ahead goal in the second period and Tuukka Rask made 31 saves as the Boston Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on Thursday night to take a 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Torey Krug and Jake DeBrusk also had goals for the Bruins, who can win the Eastern Conference quarterfinal when they host Game 5 on Saturday at Boston's TD Garden. David Pastrnak added two assists.
Tomas Plekanec scored the lone goal for the Leafs, who got 18 saves from Frederik Andersen.
Patrice Bergeron, part of a top line that combined for 20 points in the Bruins' two home victories to open the series, was a surprise late scratch with an upper-body injury. Riley Nash took his spot between Marchand and Pastrnak.
Marchand snapped a 1-1 tie for Boston with 3:05 left in the second after the Bruins were called for icing. Leafs Coach Mike Babcock put his top line, centered by Auston Matthews, out hoping to pounce on a tired group, but Nash won the draw to Adam McQuaid, whose clearing attempt up the boards skipped past Toronto defenseman Jake Gardiner. Pastrnak moved in on a 2-on-1 with Marchand, faking a shot to draw the overaggressive Nikita Zaitsev to him before feeding his linemate with a slick pass for a wide-open net.
The Leafs had a number of chances earlier in the period to go ahead, including Mitch Marner's breakaway off a stretch pass from Morgan Rielly that Rask turned aside with the blocker, but were unable to get one by Rask.
Boston then made it 3-1 at 4:17 of the third. David Krejci blocked Travis Dermott's shot and raced the other way on a 2-on-1 before finding DeBrusk, who beat a helpless Andersen after Roman Polak failed to block the pass across.
The Bruins stunned the Maple Leafs just 28 seconds into the game to quiet an electric Air Canada Centre when Krug's snapshot from the sideboards found its way past Nash and Plekanec in front before glancing in off Andersen's shoulder.
Toronto eventually got going and tied it at 7:43 when Marner fed a pass from his knees that was helped on by Patrick Marleau to Plekanec, who scored his first goal since being acquired from Montreal before the trade deadline.
The Leafs kept coming and nearly grabbed the lead later in the period, but Rask shot out his pad to deny Zach Hyman from in close as Toronto outshot Boston 12-7 through the opening 20 minutes.
WEDNESDAY'S LATE GAMES
PREDATORS 3, AVALANCHE 2
DENVER -- Filip Forsberg scored another creative goal, Pekka Rinne rebounded from a rocky performance with 31 saves, and the Nashville Predators withstood a furious rally by the Colorado Avalanche for a victory in Game 4 to take a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.
Colton Sissons and Craig Smith also added goals for the Predators, who can close out the series today when it shifts back to Nashville for Game 5.
Rinne was solid early after being pulled from the last game. Cruising along and up 3-0, the Vezina Trophy finalist allowed Gabriel Landeskog's 5-on-3 power-play goal in the third and another on Alexander Kerfoot's tap-in off a rebound.
Colin Wilson nearly tied with about 2 minutes left when his shot appeared to hit the post. The Avalanche pulled backup goalie Andrew Hammond late, but couldn't get the tying goal.
SHARKS 2, DUCKS 1
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Tomas Hertl scored the tiebreaking goal 9:09 into the third period, Martin Jones was spectacular in goal yet again, and the San Jose Sharks completed a first-round sweep of the rival Anaheim Ducks with a victory in Game 4.
Hertl scored just 1:16 after the Ducks finally got a puck past Jones when he deflected a point shot from Marc-Edouard Vlasic past John Gibson. San Jose then held on to advance to the second round against the expansion Vegas Golden Knights.
Fourth-line winger Marcus Sorensen scored for the third consecutive game to open the scoring for San Jose and Jones did most of the rest of the work with 30 saves. He robbed Corey Perry several times and got help from a replay review that negated an apparent tying goal early in the third.
Andrew Cogliano scored the lone goal for the Ducks, who were outscored 16-4 in the series and swept for the first time since 1999 against Detroit. Gibson finished with 22 saves.
Sports on 04/20/2018