Bruins Advance To Second Round Of Postseason

Things looked bleak for the Boston Bruins entering the third period of their winner-take-all Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the TD Garden, trailing 4-3. By the end of the game, however, Boston was bumping, as the B's stormed back with four final period goals to outlast the Leafs 7-4 and advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

In a game that saw five first period goals, there was no telling which way things would end up early on.

Playing from behind throughout the first period, the Bruins, who had already let a three games to one lead slip through their fingertips, kept battling back and managed to steal the lead away just before the first intermission.

The second period couldn't have gone any worse for the B's however, as Toronto scored early to knot the score at three goals apiece and, shortly after that, took the lead.

With Boston on the power play, forward Brad Marchand got sloppy with the puck, losing it up the middle to Kasperi Kapenan, who scored a short-handed goal on a nifty breakaway move that fooled Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask.

Coming onto the ice prior to the third period, the Boston crowd was quiet, still feeling the sting of a horrible second period for their hometown team.

The B's bounced back quickly, however, as defenseman Torey Krug found the back of the net just over a minute into the final period, to tie the game up at 4-4.

Less than five minutes after that, the B's went ahead for good thanks to a tremendous play and finish at the net by young forward Jake DeBrusk, who scored the team's first goal on the night as well.

After punching in two more goals, including an empty netter with just under a minute remaining, Boston sailed to the last period win.

While the team had six different players tally at least two points, no one had a better night that DeBrusk, who pushed two pucks past the goal line including the eventual game winner.

Boston now must prepare to play the Eastern Conference's top seeded team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, in the second round.

The series will likely kick off on Friday night, with the B's on the road to start.

ALL STATS HERE.