NHL Series: William Nylander, Joseph Wall and the Maple Leafs return to Boston for Game 7

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The Maple Leafs avoided elimination without superstar Auston Matthews for the second straight game Thursday in front of a particularly lively crowd in Toronto, earning a 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins.

William Nylander scored both goals for Toronto, Joseph Wall stopped 22 of 23 shots, and the Maple Leafs will return to Boston for Game 7 on Saturday night.

However, Wall was robbed of his first shutout of the playoff by Morgan Geikie with a tenth of a second remaining.

The Maple Leafs dominated the first half with a score of 12-1 in terms of shots on goal, without succeeding in opening the scoring against Jeremy Swayman, who was in great form.

The Bruins then controlled the majority of the second goal, but this time it was Wall who made 13 saves against Toronto and Nylander opened the scoring with his first goal of the playoffs with 55 seconds left.

Nylander maneuvered the ball well at the top of the box before firing a seemingly non-threatening shot toward the Bruins goal. However, the ball made its way through traffic and into the net, which was defended by Swayman.

Wall once again put his stamp on the game in the third period, particularly by sweetening the game with a great glove kick off Charlie Coyle after 6:44 to play to cap off a good sequence for Boston in Toronto territory.

Nylander then put the Leafs away by scoring his second goal of the game off a breakaway with 2:13 on the clock.

“It was good to score my first two goals in the series, but it was our team effort that made the difference tonight,” Nylander said. We played well for 60 minutes and Wall was amazing for us again. »

“The players have worked extremely hard,” added Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe. They fought. They did not accept their fate, but took steps to change it. Their work ethic was impeccable.”

Woll was making his second straight start with the Leafs' season on the line. The 25-year-old goalkeeper made 49 saves on 51 shots over those two matches. Before missing his shot late in the game, he hadn't allowed a goal since the first period of Game 5.

Swayman finished the game with 24 saves.

Matthews missed the last two games after leaving the fourth game in the series due to illness.

The Leafs were also without Nylander for the first three games of the series. He was eliminated in his first two matches.

The Maple Leafs will try to reach the second round of the playoffs for the second year in a row on Saturday, after making it past the first round for the first time since 2004 last year.

“We are excited to have this opportunity,” Leafs captain John Tavares said. Our group stayed together and kept working. Game 7 is a distinctive, exciting and unique game. »

Boston will seek to reach the second round for the first time in three seasons.

The Bruins have been eliminated in seven games in the first round over the past two seasons. They also blew a 3-1 lead in last year's series against the Florida Panthers.

The winners of the series will face the same Panthers in the second round.