The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins 2-1 at the Air Canada Center on Sunday night to force Game 7 in what has been an enthralling Eastern Conference quarterfinal.
Dion Phaneuf and Phil Kessel gave the Leafs a 2-0 lead in the third period before Milan Lucic scored with less than a minute to go but it was too little, too late for the Bruins who have now lost two straight in the series.
Boston will now host Toronto in the deciding game at TD Bank Garden on Monday evening.
James Reimer and Tuuka Rask were once again solid in between the pipes and the game was scoreless in the final stanza before the Leafs took the initiative.
Phaneuf, whose mental mistake gifted the Bruins an overtime win in Game 4, atoned for his error by driving hard to the net and tipping in Nazem Kadri’s shot past Rask to open the scoring.
Phaneuf was delighted with the goal and felt he needed to make things right after his high-profile gaffe.
“I felt that I owed it to the guys and luckily I was able to tip that in, it definitely felt good,” the Leafs’ captain said.
“Kadri gets the puck up high. He has a lot of skill. I felt if I went to the front, it gives him a chance to shoot through a screen and luckily I tipped it in.”
Kessel gave Toronto a 2-0 lead a short time later after pouncing on a rebound and backhanding the puck past Rask to send the ACC faithful into a frenzy.
Chants of ‘Thank you Kessel’ echoed throughout the arena but the 25 year old was keen to play it down.
“I’m not talking about it,” he stated. “It think it’s over with now. Two teams battling out there. I’m just playing the game and hopefully things happen out there.”
The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins on Sunday to rally from a 3-1 deficit and force Game 7, which is set for Monday night at TD Bank Garden.