TORONTO — David Pastrnak scored a tiebreaking goal late in the second period and the Boston Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Saturday night.
Sean Kuraly had a goal and two assists, and David Krecji also scored for Boston.
Tuukka Rask made 30 saves as the Bruins won the season series between the teams, 3-1, and moved to within two points of the Leafs for second place in the Atlantic Division.
Mitch Marner and Andreas Johnsson scored for Toronto. Michael Hutchinson stopped 26 shots.
Kuraly intercepted a soft pass behind the net by Leafs defenseman Nikita Zaitsev and fed Pastrnak, who scored his 26th goal of the season with 13.7 seconds left in the middle period.
Pastrnak has 19 points (11 goals, eight assists) in 15 career regular-season games against Toronto – including six goals and three assists in four outings this season.
Auston Matthews had an excellent opportunity to tie with four minutes to go but shot a backhander wide.
Boston led 1-0 after the first, but the Leafs got even at 7:37 of the second on a strange play. Johnsson’s quick shot went off Rask, off Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller, who was battling Matthews in front, and dribbled into the net.
Toronto’s struggling power play came to life 1:53 later and gave the Leafs their first lead when Marner blasted a shot that beat Rask on the short side.
But the Bruins capitalized on another gaffe by the Leafs at 14:47 when Jake Gardiner fanned on a breakout pass before having the puck stolen by Chris Wagner, who fed Kuraly in the slot.
Hutchinson, who spent three seasons in the minors with the Bruins after getting drafted 77th overall in 2008, got his fifth straight start for Toronto with No. 1 netminder Frederik Andersen out with the flu and backup Garret Sparks still recovering from a concussion.
Krejci opened the scoring with 1:39 left in the first period.
NOTES: Charlie McAvoy, who missed 20 games because of a concussion earlier this season, returned to the Bruins lineup after missing the last seven because of a foot injury. Boston had its top blue-line corps dressed together for the first time this season. Pastrnak and Krejci are the only players to appear in each of Boston’s 45 games this season.
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