Bruins 2 - 3 Maple Leafs
Final - 2OT
  for this game

Kessel, Leafs rally past Bruins in SO

Dec 5, 2010 - 9:01 AM Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Phil Kessel notched the winner in the shootout as Toronto rallied past Boston, 3-2, at Air Canada Centre.

Kessel began the third and final round by firing between the pads of Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas, and the force of the shot carried Thomas into the net and the puck over the goal line.

Michael Ryder then clanged his shot off the left post to end the game.

Carl Gunnarsson scored and Kris Versteeg tallied inside the final minute of regulation for the Maple Leafs, who snapped a four-game losing streak.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 25 saves to register his first victory since November 16.

"This one hopefully gets us out of the hole we've been in," said Kessel. "It was a big one."

Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell scored for the Bruins, who had won two in a row by a combined 11-1 score coming in. Thomas was brilliant at times, but took the loss despite stopping 38-of-40 shots.

Horton tallied after the four-minute mark of the first period, then Gunnarsson notched his first goal of the season with 4:07 left to equalize for the Leafs.

In a scoreless second period, Thomas stopped 14 shots and Giguere made 12 stops.

Campbell put the Bruins ahead at the 6:08 mark of the third period when he gathered a Tyler Seguin feed and whipped a quick shot home.

Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron was sent off with 2 1/2 minutes left in regulation for holding and the Leafs spent nearly the entire advantage camped out in the Boston zone.

Versteeg fired high and wide twice early in the power play, then Thomas smothered another chance in close. He followed up by making a save by the seat of his pants on a Tomas Kaberle rebound with one minute to play.

However, Versteeg got his revenge, lifting a shot inside the right post from the left side with 43 seconds left to knot the score.

Thomas once again saved the Bruins when he robbed Leafs defenseman Francois Beauchemin with a desperation diving glove stop 90 seconds into overtime.

Toronto couldn't cash in on a brief power play at the end of the extra session.

Game Notes

Toronto has beaten Boston in three of the last four meetings in Canada...The Leafs improved to 1-2 in the shootout and the Bruins fell to 0-3.






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