BOSTON -- Hockey can be a funny game.
Home ice seemed more like a disadvantage than an advantage for the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs throughout their opening series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The home team won just twice through the first six games, but the Black and Gold made sure that trend would be bucked when it mattered most in Tuesday night’s deciding Game 7 at TD Garden.
Though it wasn’t easy at any point against a team with plenty of high-end talent of its own, the Bruins got the job done in what turned out to be the most lopsided game of the series. This 5-1 win, though, was accomplished in rather unexpected fashion.
Earlier in the series, some of the B’s top guns were held in check. Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci and David Pastrnak combined for just one point ― a Pastrnak assist ― through the first two games. Outside of Patrice Bergeron, the only Bruin who had goals in two of the first three contests was Weymouth, Mass., native Charlie Coyle.
