Maple Leafs beat Bruins in OT to avoid elimination

Matthew Knies (23) gets congratulated after a goal against the Boston Bruins during the second period of game three of the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena.

The Toronto Maple Leafs staved off their own long-established ghosts for at least a game while bringing a more recent Boston Bruins demon closer to the surface on Tuesday.

Matthew Knies’ goal 2:26 into overtime gave the Maple Leafs a 2-1 win over the Bruins in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series, which the Bruins now lead 3-2.

Game 6 is Thursday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

For the time being, Toronto avoided being eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the sixth time in the past eight seasons.

Boston, meanwhile wants to avoid its playoff fate from last season. The Bruins led the Florida Panthers 3-1 in the first round before losing three straight and being eliminated.

The Maple Leafs were without star center Auston Matthews, who scored 69 goals during the regular season. He missed the game due to an illness.

Toronto also changed its goaltender. Ilya Samsonov started the first four games of the series, but he was pulled in favor of Joseph Woll to begin the third period of Game 4 on Saturday.

Woll got the net Tuesday night and made 27 saves.

Trent Frederic was the only Bruin to beat him, scoring with 6:06 left in the first period. Jake McCabe had given the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead 5:33 into the game.

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