TORONTO – Pavel Zacha scored twice, David Pastrnak assisted on three goals for his teammates, and the Boston Bruins shut down the Toronto Maple Leafs to comfortably win 4-1 on Monday night.
Boston (36-13-14) has now won each of the last six matchups between the two clubs. The game ended with boos from the fans gathered at Scotiabank Arena.
In addition to halting the Maple Leafs’ two-game winning streak, the Bruins extended their lead over Toronto to eight points in the Atlantic Division standings.
Jim Montgomery’s men have played two more games than Sheldon Keefe’s team, however.
Jeremy Swayman shut down the Leafs’ top scorers with 32 saves; Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander were all kept off the scoresheet.
Matthews came close to scoring his 54th goal of the season on a power play late in the first period, but defenseman Brandon Carlo cleared the puck off the goal line.
Already leading 2-0 after the first 20 minutes thanks to goals from Morgan Geekie and Zacha, the Bruins confirmed their dominance when Jake DeBrusk beat Joseph Woll after 5:07 of play in the middle period.
Pastrnak now has 52 assists after 63 games. Last year, he reached the same number in 82 games on his way to a career-high 113 points.
The Czech star winger for the Bruins became the fourth player to reach the 90-point mark this year, joining Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon, and Connor McDavid.
Woll made his second start in the NHL since returning from an ankle injury that cost him nearly two months of action.
This loss will reintroduce a level of doubt in the minds of the fans of the team from the Queen City, who had seen their favorites triumph in nine of their last ten games.
The only team not to be shut out this season in the Bettman league, Toronto extended their streak of games with at least one goal to 206.
The only consolation for the home team: captain John Tavares ended Swayman’s shutout hopes early in the final period, adding his 19th goal with a beautiful wrist shot into the top corner.
By assisting on Tavares’ goal, Morgan Rielly moved to third place in Leafs defenseman history for points (459), passing Tim Horton.
Only the late Börje Salming (766 pts) and Tomas Kaberle (523) rank ahead of Toronto’s No. 44 in that category.
The Leafs will play at home on Wednesday against the Buffalo Sabres before visiting the Bruins on Thursday.
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