Article:Bruins drive final dagger into heart of Leafs

The Boston Bruins finished off a home and home sweep against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night. The back to back losses will most likely end the playoff hopes of the Maple Leafs who fall eight points back of the Bruins for the final playoff spot.

Marco Sturm and David Krejci picked up exactly where they left off from Tuesday night when Krejci hit Sturm with a pass and Sturm buried his team leading 26th goal of the season. The Maple Leafs then fought back in the second keeping the black and gold off the board in the middle frame and tying it up at one when Jiri Tlusty put the puck past Tim Thomas about four minutes in. The period would end just like that as the teams would head to the rooms all tied up.

The Boston Bruins came out of the room and wanted to put things away as soon as possible. As Phil Kessel scored about six minutes in and Glen Murray put a power play marker on the board about five minutes after that. However the Maple Leafs would not give up as they put a power play marker on the board a few minutes later. Twenty-four seconds later the Bruins Peter Schaefer put the game out of reach when he slid the puck into the net. The Bruins took home a 4-2 win and will have Friday off before facing off against division foe Ottawa on Saturday.

Standings Watch

The Boston Bruins moved into a tie with the Philadelphia Flyers for 7th place in the East, however if the season was to end today the Bruins would get the number seven seed and the Flyers would be eight because of the Bruins won the season series. The Capitals stayed just two points out of the race with a come from behind overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Sabres will remain five points out of the conference with a win over the Senators. The New York Rangers are trying to move to advance in the playoff standings as they got a win over the New Jersey Devils and moved into a tie for fifth place with them. The Penguins now hold onto the first seed in the East, while the Canadians are in second followed by the Hurricanes.