Maple Leafs knocked out of the Stanley Cup playoffs by Boston Bruins after losing 2-1 in Game 7

The Maple Leafs flirted with destiny on Saturday but came up a little short.

David Pastrnak scored 1 minute 54 seconds into sudden-death overtime series to give the Bruins a 2-1 victory in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series at TD Garden.

It is the fourth time that Toronto was eliminated from the opening round by Boston. The Maple Leafs have not beaten the Bruins in the post-season since 1959.

They clawed back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the series at three wins a piece. Each of those games were tight 2-1 battles, too.

Boston advances to the second round against the Florida Panthers beginning on Monday. The Maple Leafs go home for the summer too early again. They have reached the playoffs eight years in a row but have only won one round.

The curious thing is that they played their best three consecutive games all year at the end of this series that will go down as a classic. Perhaps not remembered so favourably by Torontonians. The Bruins avoided setting an NHL record that they didn’t want. They were on the verge of becoming the first team in history to lose a series after holding a 3-1 lead in consecutive years.

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The Maple Leafs improbably pushed this one to the full seven games despite William Nylander missing three games and Auston Matthews two. Matthews returned to the lineup on Saturday – just as goalie Joseph Woll came down with an injury.

Woll had started each of the two previous games and had stopped 59 of 61 shots. Without the rookie that backstopped them in Games 5 and 6 they would likely not have still been alive in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Woll allowed the Bruins only two goals in more than 140 minutes since he came on in relief of Ilya Samsonov in Game 4. But there was Samsonov, who lost three of the first four contests in the series, as the surprise starter in Toronto’s net.

This one can’t be blamed on Samsonov, however. In a terrific effort he turned away 29 of 31 shots. Boston’s Jeremy Swayman was just a tad better. He denied 30 of 31 in the triumph.

TD Garden was…