Bruins Defeat the Leafs to Even Their Series, and the Stars Pummel the Predators

David Pastrnak scored twice, Brad Marchand added a goal and two assists, and the visiting Boston Bruins held on to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-4, on Wednesday night to even their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series at two wins apiece.

Charlie McAvoy had a goal and an assist, and Zdeno Chara and Joakim Nordstrom each scored once for the Bruins, who will host Game 5 in the best-of-seven series on Friday.

Auston Matthews scored twice for Toronto, and Zach Hyman and Travis Dermott each scored once. Morgan Rielly added two assists for Toronto.

Tuukka Rask made 38 saves for Boston. Toronto’s Frederik Andersen stopped 25 shots.

The Bruins scored twice early in the first period. McAvoy gave Boston the lead on a shot from the right circle at 3 minutes 3 seconds, converting a pass from Charlie Coyle on a power play. Connor Brown was serving a holding penalty.

McAvoy set up the second Boston goal at 6:38 with a pass to the goal mouth that Marchand poked home.

The Maple Leafs failed on two consecutive power plays but scored at 17:55 of the first when Zach Hyman tipped in Rielly’s shot from the right point to cut the deficit to 2-1. The goal came 11 seconds after a McAvoy interference penalty had expired.

Toronto tied the game, 2-2, at 1:07 of the second period when a shot by Matthews from the right circle hit Rask and slipped under the goaltender’s arm.

Boston regained the lead at 3:16 of the second period when Pastrnak tipped in a pass from Marchand on a two-on-one.

Pastrnak scored again at 4:51 of the second on a power play, shooting from the bottom of the left circle after a feed by Marchand from the right corner. Matthews was off for roughing.

Boston led by 5-2 when Chara scored on a screened shot from the left point at 5:39 of the third period.

The Maple Leafs scored a power-play goal at 11:52 of the third when Matthews tipped in Mitch Marner’s pass. McAvoy was off for high-sticking.

Dermott cut the gap to 5-4 at 13:27 of the third. Nordstrom scored into an empty net at 19:58.

STARS 5, PREDATORS 1 The rookie Roope Hintz scored the first two postseason goals of his career as the host Dallas Stars cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Nashville Predators in Game 4 on Wednesday to even their Western Conference first-round series.

Alexander Radulov and Mats Zuccarello joined Hintz in scoring on the power play, and Andrew Cogliano also tallied for the Stars, whose four goals in the first period were one shy of the franchise record for a single period in the playoffs.

The team, when it was known as the Minnesota North Stars, scored five times in the first period of a 6-5 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 3 of the 1991 Norris Division semifinals.

John Klingberg notched three assists, fellow defenseman Esa Lindell had two, and Ben Bishop made 34 saves for Dallas. Game 5 will be Saturday afternoon.

Pekka Rinne, who made 40 saves in a 3-2 win over the Stars in Game 3 on Monday, yielded four goals on eight shots before being relieved by Juuse Saros (20 saves).

Dallas entered Game 4 with just one power-play goal in 13 opportunities in the series, but made Nashville pay for its infractions on Wednesday.

Hintz wristed a shot from the upper edge of the left circle that beat a screened Rinne to open the scoring 3:42 into the contest. With that shot, Hintz ended 14-game goal drought.

Dallas doubled the advantage with another power-play goal just 1:16 later as Radulov floated a shot from the slot that sailed over Rinne’s glove.

Lindell wired a diagonal outlet pass to set up the Stars’ third goal nearly three and a half minutes later. Blake Comeau blasted a sharp-angle shot from along the right-wing boards that produced a juicy rebound for Cogliano, who beat a diving Rinne for an easy conversion.

Lindell slid a centering feed to Zuccarello, who sized up his shot from the slot to give Dallas a 4-0 lead with 6:15 remaining in the first period.

Hintz added his second goal midway in the second period after converting Klingberg’s cross-slot feed.

Nashville’s captain, Roman Josi, beat a screened Bishop at 8:11 of the third.

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