Bruins grind out 5-3 win against Maple Leafs

BOSTON — A little old-time hockey broke out at TD Garden, at least what passes for it these days, and the Bruins managed to stretch their winning streak to seven games with their second straight win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.

In a game filled with hard feelings and questionable hits, David Pastrnak had a three-point night (two goals, including No. 400, and an assist) to lift the B’s to a 5-3 win over the Leafs.

It wasn’t easy, which was a small victory for the Leafs.

The B’s had a 4-1 lead late in the second period, but after a Bobby McMann power-play goal late in the second period, Oliver Ekman-Larson’s seeing-eye shot beat Jeremy Swayman at 3:32 of the third to pull the Leafs to within a goal.

Toronto came out for the third playing with an edge that had been missing early in the game after taking exception to a Nikita Zadorov hit that knocked Auston Matthews out of the game in the second period. It got the better of them when Max Domi tried to get Zadorov to fight after Domi had bumped Swayman. Zadorov wisely kept his gloves on as the much smaller Domi flailed away. Domi got called for a roughing minor and the B’s cashed in. Mark Kastelic made a pretty pass to Pastrnak, who had scored a milestone goal earlier in the game, for No. 401 over goalie Dennis Hildeby to push the lead to 5-3.

That didn’t end the nasty stuff. With 7:46 left in the third, Sammy Blais hit Charlie McAvoy with what could have been a dangerous knee-on-knee hit, setting off another another melee with Zadorov jumping on the pile. When the smoke cleared, the teams skated four aside but nothing came of it.

The B’s weren’t out of the woods. Kastelic took a crosschecking penalty when he nailed Simon Benoit to the side of the head. But the B’s were able to kill it off.

The Bruins took a 3-1 lead in the first period, thanks in great part to the Leafs taking three penalties in the first eight minutes. Goals were scored on all three of them, but only two for the Bruins.

The first one came at 4:27, with Pavel Zacha scoring his fifth of the year on a nice redirect off a Pastrnak pass.

But on the B’s next power play, a gaffe led to a Toronto equalizer. As the B’s were winding up in their own zone for an attack, Steven Lorentz stole the puck from McAvoy and beat Swayman with a quick wrister from the slot at 6:41.

The B’s, however, would get it right back. Hampus Lindholm, using a Marat Khusnutdinov screen, beat Anthony Stolarz with a snap shot from well above the left circle at 9:32. It was Lindholm’s first goal since Nov. 7 of last year, five days before he suffered a season-ending knee injury.

The B’s outshot the Leafs, 10-6, in the first and pushed the lead to two goals at 17:23 on a dominant shift that produced a soft goal from Stolarz. The B’s, in the midst of a line change, created multiple turnovers inside the Toronto zone until Alex Steeves, who’d been in the Leafs’ organization for four years before signing with the B’s in last summer, found a sizable hole between Stolarz’ pads from the left circle for is first goal as a Bruin.

Stolarz would not see the second period, as he was yanked for Hildeby.

But Hildeby’s teammates did him no favors early, allowing a breakaway to the wrong player in the first minute on a pretty play — Pastrnak. McAvoy sent the puck up the middle of the ice and Morgan Geekie made a beautiful tip pass to spring Pastrnak. He deked Hildeby out of his skates and neatly tucked in his 400th career goal behind him. The Bruins players all streamed on to the ice to congratulate him on the goal, his ninth of the season.

As if they sensed they were on the verge of being embarrassed, the Leafs finally started to push back. They spent the better part of the next 10 minutes in the Bruins zone but they could not beat Swayman to get any closer.

A Bruins power play midway through the period stemmed the tide a bit, even though they would eventually give it away with a too-many-men penalty of their own.

But the B’s penchant for penalties allowed the Leafs to hang around later in the second. First, Jeffrey Viel took an offensive zone crosschecking penalty and then, 1:12 later, Kastelic was called for high-sticking.

The B’s did a good job of killing off the 48-second 5-on-3, but the Leafs dinged them on the 5-on-4 with Bobby McMann scoring on a backhander from in tight with 1:02 left in the second.

The Leafs, who possess plenty of comeback ability, would be trying it in the third without Matthews, who left the game in the second when Zadorov drilled him into the boards, with his left shoulder taking the brunt of the hit.

If the Leafs didn’t like the hit, they took a liberty of their own at the start of the third period when McMann drilled Lindholm long after the puck was gone, creating a kerfuffle that would eventually lead to a Bruins power pplay.

They didn’t convert and the Leafs were able to inch closer.