The Boston Bruins were on a mission to end their three-game road trip on a high note.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, however, ensured that wouldn’t come to fruition for the Black and Gold on Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena.
Toronto put Boston to the ultimate test, scoring six times with three coming from Matthew Knies’ first career hat trick en route to handing the Bruins a 6-4 loss. That charged Boston with its third consecutive defeat, leaving a sour taste in the mouths of the B’s before returning home and turning the page.
“I think if we played good defensive hockey like we had been, we win that game easily,” Trent Frederic told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I think the way our team plays we can control (the lapses). I think some of it’s on us and I guess we’ll kind of watch it tomorrow and figure it out.”
Knies was the lone killer that anchored Boston’s momentum from start to finish, but that’s nothing new. The 22-year-old entered the matchup having netted two goals in the two previous meetings between the Bruins and Maple Leafs this season and continued the dominance. Knies scored once in the second period and twice in the third period — both times netting go-ahead goals — to drown Boston’s comeback bid.
On the bright side, the Bruins never gave in.
Boston combated Knies and the Maple Leafs with two equalizers, one from Morgan Geekie and the other from David Pastrnak. Still, the grit wasn’t enough.
“It was funny, the first period we had them taking some defensive zone face-off draws,” Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Probably three I think of off the top of my head. But we never really made them defend. They were able to get on the attack too much so that’s on us. We get four tonight and we gave up too many so uncharacteristic.”
Sacco added: “Keeping the puck out of our net is our No. 1 priority and we didn’t do a good enough job of that tonight.”
Boston dropped to 20-17-4 with the loss.
Here are more notes from Saturday night’s Bruins-Maple Leafs matchup:
— Boston ended its 0-3 road trip scoring two goals per contest, allowing 3.7 to opponents and going 0-for-5 on the power play. Toronto scored two empty netters in the third period, inflating its goal total from four to six.
“Too easy, the goals they scored,” Pastrnak told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “I think we didn’t do much to prevent. We got four but we’re chasing the whole game so I’m not sure if that’s good.”
— The Bruins hadn’t reached the four-goal plateau since Dec. 28, scoring a combined two instead against the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers to begin the road trip.
“Hopefully it encourages guys, gives guys confidence — myself included — that we can start helping out the team here and get more goals,” Frederic said, per NESN.
— Geekie got the Black and Gold on the board in the second period, netting his ninth goal of the season. The 26-year-old is up to seven goals, including two game-winners, and five assists amid a 16-game stretch that dates back to Dec. 16.
— The Maple Leafs have taken two of three matchups this season against the Bruins. Both teams will meet again for one final time on Feb. 25 in Boston.
— The Bruins return home to host the New York Islanders on Sunday in hopes of ending the slump. Puck drop from TD Garden is set for 6 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus a full hour of pregame coverage, live on NESN.
