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The Toronto Maple Leafs evened their best-of-seven series with the Boston Bruins on the back of the top line of Auston Matthews, Max Domi, and Tyler Bertuzzi, that accounted for six of their eight points, and a bounce back performance by Ilya Samsonov, who made 27 saves in the 3-2 victory victory at TD Garden on Monday.
“Auston has a goal and two assists. He was all over the stat sheet tonight. In so many regards, he is affecting the game positively for us. With the way he worked and the way he competed, he was hard and physical. He was winning puck battles all over the ice. I would say the same thing about Bert and Domi.” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the win. “The way those guys connected there is big-time stuff, and the finish was really great. I loved that line. I loved a lot about our game tonight all the way through the lineup.”
The Leafs were able to even the series with essentially one offensive line, as the second line of John Tavares (who scored on the power play late in the second), Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies, and the makeshift third line of Calle Jarnkrok, Pontus Holmberg, and Nick Robertson have not registered a point at even strength in the series.
With the series shifting to Scotiabank Arena for Game 3 on Wednesday, the biggest question is whether winger William Nylander will be back in the lineup. Keefe was limited in what he would say about the situation prior to flying back to Toronto on Tuesday.
"Obviously no update today, because not much happening for us here today except for getting ready to travel. But (Nylander is) a possibility for us tomorrow, I guess, is all we would say."
The Bruins received some bad news on the injury front, as defenseman Andrew Peeke suffered a hand injury blocking a shot and will be out week-to-week. Boston recalled defenseman Mason Lohrei from AHL Providence, and either he or Parker Wotherspoon will replace Peeke in the lineup. It is expected that Jim Montgomery will go back to Jeremy Swayman for Game 3, even though Linus Ullmark was excellent is a 30-save performance.
One item that will be interesting to see if it has any effect on the series. Late in the third period, during a scrum between Ilya Lyubushkin and Charlie Coyle, Tyler Bertuzzi tapped Brad Marchand on the back of the leg, and the Bruins captain went down like he had been shot by a sniper. Bertuzzi was assessed a minor for slashing, but the replay showed that Marchand had embellished to the level of Meryl Streep, and so badly that even Boston play-by-play man Jack Edwards said the call was patently absurd.
A friend from Boston sent me this from their broadcast...
Jack Edwards was IRATE about the slashing call on Tyler Bertuzzi, even saying there's an open agenda against the Leafs.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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