Second period quick hits

What a wild second period that was. Phil Kessel notches a goal and an assist for his 500th point, Carl Soderberg and Reilly Smith connect on a power play goal and David Krejci and Torey Krug scored just 2:03 apart to tie the game at 3-3 after 40 minutes.

With the Leafs taking advantage of some mismatches, head coach Claude Julien jumbled up his defensive pairings. Kevan Miller, who was on the ice with Torey Krug for Toronto’s first period goal, was skating with Zdeno Chara. Krug was moved with Matt Bartkowski and Dougie Hamilton was moved with Dennis Seidenberg.

Good things happen when the Bruins crash the net. During the last few minutes, they’ve gotten traffic in front of Jonathan Bernier and the Leafs have no answer. Against a team that is giving up an average of 2.97 goals per game – tied for sixth worst in the league – the B’s need to keep the pressure on. They aren’t playing their best hockey, but two points are there for the taking.

The highlight of the period might have come in the end of the period as Tuukka Rask – who was on his way to the locker room -sprinted to center ice during a scuffle in front of his net. Clearly he was looking to drop the gloves and it’s pretty clear that someone on the Bruins bench will need to hide the milk crates.

First period quick hits

The Bruins have brought the physicality, but some of the other attributes are missing in the opening 20 minutes as they trail the Maple Leafs, 1-0.

A rare mistake for Patrice Bergeron on the Leafs goal as he wasn’t there to back check Komarov. For a two-time Selke winner, Bergeron has had a bit of a rough season defensively, but part of that is attributed to him having to do more than is asked of him with guys in and out of the lineup. I’m sure come the second half of the season, Bergeron’s defensive woes – albeit minor – will be corrected.

Having lost five of their last six, Leafs coach Randy Carlyle is looking for some kind of spark from his team. He started the top line of James van Reimsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel, but has since double shifted Kessel on many occasions. Apparently, Carlyle wants to make sure Kessel isn’t on the ice when Zdeno Chara is and at times it’s worked, but he won’t see the last of the 6-foot-9 Bruins captain.

With 3:41 left in the first, the refs waived off a goal from Daniel Winnik after he clearly kicked the puck in with his skate. If this were soccer, he might have a chance to display his kicking skills for Toronto FC of the MLS.

The Leafs are very comfortable playing with the lead as they are 15-3-0 when scoring first. The Bruins, meanwhile, are 7-10-1 when allowing the first goal. After the first period, the Bruins may want to bring a little more pressure as they were outshot, 8-7.

However, Tuukka Rask’s save on Phil Kessel’s penalty shot with 2:09 left in the first could give the Black and Gold a little momentum. And they’ll have 1:20 of power play time carried over from Roman Polak’s interference penalty to start the second.

Pregame notes:

Happy New Years eve from the TD Garden where tonight the Bruins host the Maple Leafs in the final game of the 2014 calendar year.

Fresh off an impressive 5-2 win over the Red Wings on Monday, the Bruins welcome Patrice Bergeron and Milan Lucic back to the lineup. Reigning Vezina winner Tuukka Rask gets his second straight start, while Jonathan Bernier will start for the Maple Leafs.

The Bruins and the Leafs have played twice this season – both at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto – with each team earning a victory. The last meeting is one that the Black and Gold would like to forget, however, as they took a 6-1 shellacking from Phil Kessel and company.

This will be Zdeno Chara’s first matchup against the Leafs this year, so there might not be as many defensive breakdowns as there was in the last meeting between the two teams. Here are the lines and defensive pairings for the B’s.

Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Seth Griffith
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Reilly Smith
Chris Kelly-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Craig Cunningham

Zdeno Chara-Dougie Hamilton
Dennis Seidenberg-Matt Bartkowski
Torey Krug-Kevan Miller

Jordan Caron, Matt Lindblad and Zach Trotman are the healthy scratches for tonight.