Bruins Blow Lead, Wilt In OT Loss To Leafs

BOSTON– If NHL hockey games were only 30 minutes long, the Boston Bruins would’ve had one of their best victories of the season on Tuesday night.

Instead, they blew not one but two separate leads in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at TD Garden.

“I don’t look at it like it’s a devastating loss,” Bruins interim coach Joe Sacco said. “Certainly, it’s not something that we want to have happen here. But like I said, I thought for 40 minutes we were playing good. We just got to find a way, obviously, to secure that extra point. Disappointing, but towards the end there, we have to continue to push. We have to make sure that we’re just trying to try to grab that extra point.”

After jumping out to a three-goal lead halfway through the game, the Bruins, as they’ve made a habit of doing all year, unraveled as they surrendered three straight Maple Leafs goals in just over 15 minutes.

David Pastrnak seemed to save the Bruins from themselves, scoring his second goal of the night and 30th of the season to put them back in front with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game. But despite Pastrnak’s best efforts, the Bruins shot themselves in the foot, allowing Pontus Holmberg to tie the game once again for Toronto with 46 seconds left in regulation.

Desperately needing a second point, the Bruins almost survived overtime. But with 51 seconds left to go, Mason Lohrei fumbled the puck at the blue line, springing Mitch Marner on a breakaway chance that he buried past Jeremy Swayman for the winning goal.

MITCHELLYY MARNER CALLED GAME!!! 🪄 pic.twitter.com/VB8s0jBiDC

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 26, 2025

“You’re always looking for the two points, and we gave that away tonight,” Lohrei said.

The gaff by Lohrei was in complete contrast to how he began the game. In the first period alone, he had two assists, three shots on goal, and three blocked shots. It took all of just 29 seconds for him to help put the Bruins on the board following the opening faceoff.

Standing between the circles in the defensive end, the blue liner whipped a pass up the center of the ice, through a crowd of skates and sticks, right onto the blade of David Pastrnak at the attacking blue line. Entering the zone with speed and nothing but open ice between him and the goal, Pastrnak had no issue firing a shot underneath the blocker of Leafs netminder Anthony Stolarz.

Just some more dandy David 👌 pic.twitter.com/31SPc9TnrG

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 26, 2025

“World-class pass,” Pastrnak said. “I was surprised it ended up right on my stick.”

Brad Marchand doubled Boston’s at the 13:59 mark while on the power play. Battling down low, the captain punched in a loose puck for his 21st goal of the year.

The Bruins’ man-advantage unit continued to get a healthy dose of ice time. With a total of six power play chances in the game for the Bruins, it was as if the Maple Leafs were being paid by the penalty. Morgan Geekie used one of those opportunities to add to Boston’s midway lead through the second period, as his 19th goal of the year made it 3-0.

That, though, is when everything turned against the Bruins.

The Maple Leafs eventually did something other than take a penalty when Morgan Rielly put them on the board at 13:52 of the middle frame, threading a shot through traffic and just over the shoulder of Swayman. Still, at that point, the Bruins were relatively comfortable.

That all changed when Marner drew Toronto within one at the start of the third period while Oliver Wahlstrom sat in the penalty box, serving time for an offensive zone penalty.

Whatever level of comfort the Bruins had left was completely wiped out and so too was their advantage when Nick Robertson scored off the rush to tie the game for the Leafs at 6:40 of the third.

Even after Pastrnak bought the Bruins a second chance, it felt it was only a matter of until they gave it away.

“It sounds like we should win the game,” Pastrnak said. “But that’s a really high-skilled team on the other end. The more frustrating, I think, is we retake the lead and we still weren’t able to close. It’s tough to have this second point hanging off the table and let them grab it.”

Trent Frederic left the game in the second period and did not return. The Bruins did not have an update on his status after the game.

The Bruins will host the New York Islanders at TD Garden on Thursday night.

FOLLOW ANDREW FANTUCCHIO ON 𝕏: @A_FANTUCCHIO

FOLLOW BOSTON HOCKEY NOW ON 𝕏 AND FACEBOOK