The Boston Bruins rallied to an improbable win on Monday over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7. Boston came back from a three-score third period deficit to win 5-4 in overtime.
Boston was down three goals with 14:31 left in the third period. They pulled it together and went on to score four straight goals. Boston's Patrice Bergeron scored the game-tying goal inside the final minute of regulation and hit the game-winning wrist shot in overtime.
"We stayed resilient - I guess that's what I can say," Bergeron said after the game. "We found a way. Not necessarily the way we would've liked to play the whole game, but like I said, we showed some character coming back in the game and we found a way in overtime. We had the momentum, I thought, and our legs were back. It felt good."
Fatigue played a role in Toronto's inability to close out the game.
"I thought we ran out of gas," Toronto coach Randy Carlyle said. "When you build a 4-1 lead you want to check, check, check, and as I said, I thought we just ran out of gas as far as our group."
The Bruins' Milan Lucic, who scored 31-seconds before Bergeron's game-tying goal, kept the Maple Leafs off-balance all night with his physical play.
"Especially when you are down, you do anything you can to give yourself a chance," Lucic said. "... It seemed like we started to play more reckless and taking pucks to the net and things like that. It was just like, (forget) it and leave everything on the line and hopefully everything will take care of itself."
Boston's Monday night rally was one of the club's greatest playoff moments. The Bruins made history and became the first NHL team to win a Game 7 after trailing by three goals. The last time the club overcame a three point deficit in any playoff game was in 1990, according to the Associated Press.
The Bruins will face the New York Rangers on Thursday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
