Matthew Knies scored twice while William Nylander had the eventual game-winner and added an assist to leading the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.
Max Domi also scored, John Tavares dished out three assists and Anthony Stolarz made 18 saves for the Maple Leafs (30-29-13, 73 points), who erased an early 1-0 lead with two goals in both the second and third periods.
The win was just the third since the Olympic break for Toronto (3-8-4).
Elias Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy scored and Jeremy Swayman made 31 saves for Boston (39-24-8, 86 points), which was on a five-game point streak (3-0-2).
Toronto led 35-20 in shots on goal and went 1-for-4 on the power play while Boston was 1-for-5.
Boston opened the scoring just 5:04 into the first, though Toronto finished the period with a 9-5 edge in shots. After receiving a transition pass from Morgan Geekie, Lindholm wired a long wrister from the right circle past Stolarz’s blocker to net the 1-0 goal.
Early in the second, Swayman was up to the task on multiple odd-man rushes and Stolarz robbed Geekie at the doorstep. The visitors tied the game, though, on Knies’ short-handed breakaway goal at 7:27 as he sped past defender Mason Lohrei and roofed the puck.
The Maple Leafs carried a 2-1 lead into the second intermission, but it could have been more if not for Swayman’s huge stop on Nylander at the post with 6:07 left in the period.
Just 15 seconds after Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov was whistled for a major penalty for boarding John Tavares, Domi flipped the score with a 4-on-3 goal at 18:08 of the second. A Tavares backhand feed along the wing sent Domi walking alone to the net front to slip the puck five-hole on Swayman.
The Bruins killed the major without any further damage, but Nylander went to the net shortly thereafter and buried his own rebound for a 3-1 Toronto lead at 3:00 of the third.
Just 2:08 later at the tail end of a power play, McAvoy brought Boston within 3-2 when David Pastrnak’s one-timer from the circle deflected off him in the slot. Pastrnak extended his point streak to 10 with the assist.
Stolarz made several key saves down the stretch, flashing the glove on Lohrei’s open wrister with 4:27 to go.
A Casey Mittelstadt tripping call with 1:04 left halted Boston’s late 6-on-5 play, then Knies buried an empty-netter with 22 ticks remaining.
