Maple Leafs top Bruins in OT, stay alive with Game 5 win

BOSTON -- Matthew Knies scored at 2:26 of overtime, and the Toronto Maple Leafs avoided elimination with a 2-1 win against the Boston Bruins in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round at TD Garden on Tuesday.

Knies put in a rebound at the edge of the crease after Jeremy Swayman stopped a driving John Tavares at the right post.

“That was a pretty incredible play by [Tavares] there to drive the net and make that play happen,” Knies said. “It all started with him, and then it kind of just fell in my stick and I was fortunate to bury that one and send us back home.”

Game 6 of the best-of-7 series will be at Toronto on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, NESN, TBS, MAX).

Jake McCabe scored, and Joseph Woll made 27 saves in his first start of the series for Toronto, the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic Division.

“You want to build positive momentum your own way,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “And yeah, you want to make them be uncomfortable. You want to make them have to pack up and head out to Toronto.”

Trent Frederic scored, and Swayman made 31 saves for Boston, the No. 2 seed from the Atlantic.

“We weren’t good enough,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “Just simple as that. Toronto came out ready to play. They took it to us. We weren’t ready to match their desperation.”

The Maple Leafs were without center Auston Matthews, the NHL goals leader in the regular season with 69, who missed the third period of Toronto’s 3-1 loss in Game 4 because of an illness. There was no update on him after the game.

The Maple Leafs outshot the Bruins 11-2 in the first period, but the game was tied 1-1 entering the second.

McCabe gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead at 5:33 of the first, shooting through traffic from the point.

“They get a goal decently early off the face-off after I lost it,” Frederic said. “That gives them momentum. Anytime you get the first goal, it helps.”

Frederic tied it 1-1 at 13:54 after Jesper Boqvist’s forecheck behind the net caused the puck to fall to Frederic in front.

Frederic nearly put the Bruins ahead when he had a prime netfront chance at 12:28 of the third period, but Woll held strong with his outstretched right pad as Frederic went backhand to forehand.

“It’s pretty special. I mean, I’m having the time of my life out there,” said Woll, who played for Boston College from 2016-2019. “[TD Garden is] a place I’ve played a lot of big games, and to come in here and play the Bruins in an elimination game is pretty special. So I thought from the drop of the puck, our team had a different level of urgency and it made me confident back there.”

Later in the third, Max Domi took the puck away from Bruins forward Charlie Coyle to create a 2-on-1 rush with Tyler Bertuzzi, but Swayman swallowed up Bertuzzi’s one-timer from the right circle at 14:55 to keep it tied.

Woll made a pad save on Coyle’s shot from the low slot 43 seconds into overtime.

“That’s just the way it plays out sometimes,” Bruins captain Brad Marchand said. “The hardest [win] to get is that last one, and you know, like I said, they came and they left it all out there. That’s just -- we need to be better. That’s all it is.”

NOTES: Knies (21 years, 196 days) became the sixth-youngest player in Maple Leafs history to score a playoff overtime goal. … Woll earned his second win in a potential series elimination game, which tied Gord McRae, Felix Potvin and John Ross Roach for the most by a rookie goaltender in Toronto history. Woll got the win in Game 4 of the second round last season, a 2-1 victory against the Florida Panthers, who won the series in five games. … Bruins forward Justin Brazeau had five hits and played 10:03 in his NHL playoff debut.