BOSTON (AP) -- Brad Boyes has been one of the few bright spots in
a season filled with disappointment for the Boston Bruins.
Boyes came through again for the Bruins on Thursday night,
scoring the only goal of the shootout to lift Boston to a 3-2
victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"He has made huge strides in a tremendous rookie season,"
Bruins coach Mike Sullivan said. "He has taken advantage of our
personnel changes and is a big piece of our nucleus going
forward."
Boyes has 24 goals and 41 assists and has thrived on a line with
Patrice Bergeron and Marco Sturm for the last-place Bruins.
"My whole point this season was to prove to Boston they made a
good choice when they picked me up," Boyes said. "It was nice
tonight especially after I started with Toronto and they kind of
gave up on me and traded me."
Mats Sundin salvaged a point for the Maple Leafs when he tied
the game with 13 seconds left. Toronto trails eighth-place Tampa
Bay in the race for the final playoff spot in the Eastern
Conference by seven points.
"We kind of stole a point," Maple Leafs goalie Jean-Sebastien
Aubin said. "I'd love to win a game in the shootout, but we need
to build positives."
Boston won for the second time in 10 shootouts and improved to
5-11-3 in the last 19.
Sundin, Darcy Tucker and Alexei Ponikarovsky all were stopped by
Bruins goalie Tim Thomas in the shootout.
"We're not going to quit and we just have to keep working,"
Tucker said.
Toronto missed a point blank chance with just over a minute
remaining in overtime when Kyle Wellwood was robbed by Thomas.
Aubin started his sixth straight game for the Maple Leafs and
made 24 saves for Toronto, which was previously unbeaten in its
last five.
Ponikarovsky tied the game a minute into the second for Toronto
when he wristed the puck under the crossbar with Thomas sprawled on
the ice.
Glen Murray helped Boston regain the lead when he converted a
pass from Shawn McEachern and beat Aubin with 4:16 remaining in the
second period. Murray has scored five of his 24 goals this season
against Toronto.
Mariusz Czerkawski put Boston ahead 1-0 when he backhanded a
shot over Aubin's shoulder with 58 seconds remaining in the first
period. Czerkawski was claimed off waivers from Toronto last month.
Toronto mustered only two shots in the first, but followed up
with 18 in the second period.
Boston finished the season series 4-2-2 against Toronto
Toronto improved to 1-27-4 when trailing after two periods after
rallying late.
Game notes
Brian Leetch played in his 1200th NHL game. ...Thomas won
the 7th Player Award for the Bruins. The award is given to the
player who performed beyond expectations as voted by the fans. ...
Murray left the game in overtime when he took a slap shot off the
head. ... Ponikarovsky has four goals and four assists in the last
six games.