PLAYA VISTA — Paul George’s 43-game sitting streak could come to an end Tuesday night against the Utah Jazz at Crypto.com Arena – and if it happens, it won’t be a moment too soon for the Clippers. 475 more words
FINAL SCORE: TORONTO RAPTORS 115, BOSTON CELTICS 112 (OT)
DATE: MONDAY MARCH 28, 2022 ATTENDACE: 19,800 (Sellout)
FINAL SCORE
RECORD
HIGH POINTS
HIGH REBOUNDS
HIGH ASSISTS
Boston
112
47-29
Smart – 28
Theis / Smart – 10
White – 8
Toronto
115
43-32
Siakam – 40
Siakam – 13
Barnes – 4
KEY RUN
Trailing by seven points (101-94) with 4:12 remaining in the fourth quarter, Fred VanVleet made consecutive three-pointers to pull Toronto within one point (101-100) with 3:09 left in the frame … The Raptors went on a 12-5 run to close out regulation before outscoring Boston 9-to-6 in overtime.
KEY STAT
Toronto had just 10 turnovers while forcing 18 from Boston … Through four games this season, the Raptors have forced 76 Celtics turnovers leading to 94 points … Toronto entered tonight ranked third in the NBA in points off turnovers (18.6).
RAPTORS NOTES:
With the win, Toronto improves to 43-32 this season and 20-16 at home … The Raptors have now won three consecutive games and will complete their current four-game homestand (Mar. 24-30) Wednesday vs. Minnesota.
Pascal Siakam scored a season-high 40 points (17-29 FG, 6-8 FT) and added 13 rebounds in 47 minutes for his team-leading 25th double-double of the season … Siakam has now tallied four 40-point double doubles in his career and ranks second in franchise history behind only Chris Bosh (5) … Siakam has scored 20+ points in five consecutive games (Mar. 20-28) and 13 of the last 14 contests overall, averaging 27.5 points during this stretch.
Pascal Siakam led all scorers with 25 first half points … Siakam has scored 25-or-more points in a half 10 times in his career, and the Raptors are 9-1 in these games.
Gary Trent Jr. finished with 12 points, three steals and two assists in 37 minutes … Trent Jr. returned to the lineup for the first time since Mar. 20 after missing three games (Mar. 21-26) with a hyperextended left big toe.
The Raptors recorded a season-high 10 blocks tonight … Precious Achiuwa led the way with a career-high four blocks, while Thaddeus Young recorded a season high-tying three.
CELTICS NOTES:
With the loss, Boston falls to 47-29 and 21-17 on the road … The Celtics are now 8-6 on the second half of a back-to-back set … Boston will begin a three-game homestand (Mar. 30 – April 3) Wednesday against Miami.
Marcus Smart finished with season highs of 28 points and 10 rebounds, and added four assists in 40 minutes … Smart has recorded 20-or-more points in a career-best 10 games this season … The Celtics are 8-2 this year when Smart scores 20+ points.
Payton Pritchard tallied 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists in 30 minutes off the bench … Pritchard has now scored in double figures in seven consecutive games (Mar. 16-28), averaging 13.0 points and shooting .552 (32-58) from the field during this stretch.
Grant Williams scored 17 points and added seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 39 minutes … Williams has recorded 15+ points 11 times this season, something he did just three times in his first two seasons combined (2019-2021).
As Rob Williams contemplated his options for knee surgery, a stripped down lineup of his teammates flew into Toronto searching for a way to keep their precarious hold on first place in the Eastern Conference. 802 more words
2021-22 Matchups vs. Boston: Second of Three 2021-22 Record vs. Boston: 1-0-0 Toronto Season Record: 41-19-5 Toronto Road Record: 17-12-3 TV: Sportsnet RADIO: Sportsnet 590
RECENT TRANSACTIONS March 28, 2022 Forward Kyle Clifford and defenceman Carl Dahlström have been recalled from the Toronto Marlies on an emergency basis. March 26, 2022 The Maple Leafs announced the club has signed forward Nicholas Abruzzese to a two-year, entry-level contract.
LAST GAME
March 20, 2022 Toronto acquired defenceman Mark Giordano and forward Colin Blackwell from the Seattle Kraken in exchange for three draft selections. Score: Toronto 5 vs. Florida 2 Date: Sunday, March 27, 2022 TOR Goals: Rielly, Tavares (2x), Mikheyev, Matthews FLA Goals: Montour, Lomberg TOR Goaltender: Mrazek, 34/36, .944 SV% FLA Goaltender: Knight, 20/24, .833 SV% TOR Power Play: 2-for-2 TOR Penalty Kill: 3-for-3 Team Notes:
With his 48th goal of the season scored in Sunday’s win, Auston Matthews set a new career-high in goals.
With his assist on John Tavares’ first goal of the game, Mitch Marner recorded his 300th career NHL assist. Marner becomes the 15th player in Maple Leafs history to record 300 assists and is the fastest to accomplish the feat (411 games), surpassing the previous mark of 469 games set by Borje Salming.
Mitch Marner tied a single-game career-high three assists during Sunday’s game, marking the 18th occasion of his NHL career to do so.
With a three-point game (1G, 2A), Morgan Rielly recorded his third game of the season with three or more points and his 14th multi-point game of the season.
David Kämpf skated in his 300th career NHL game. NEXT GAME
Date: Thursday, March 31, 2022 Opponent: vs. Winnipeg Jets Time: 7:00 pm ET Broadcast Information: TSN4 (TV), TSN 1050 (Radio)
INJURY REPORT
Jack Campbell Rib Injury Ondej Kaše Day-to-Day Jake Muzzin Concussion Rasmus Sandin Knee First Matchup between Clubs: December 3, 1924 (Toronto 5 vs. Boston 3) All-Time Record: 279-291-98-10 (678 Games)
ALL-TIME VS. BOSTON BRUINS: All-Time Record at Home: 175-111-51-3 (340 Games) All-Time Record on the Road: 104-180-47-7 (338 Games) Last Road Win vs. Opponent: November 11, 2017 (Toronto 4 at Boston 1) Record in Last Five Games: 2-3-0 Record in Last 10 Games: 4-6-0
ACTIVE LEADERS VS. BOSTON BRUINS: Games Played: Jason Spezza (63), John Tavares (36), Wayne Simmonds (34) Goals: Jason Spezza (18), John Tavares (16), Wayne Simmonds (6), Mitch Marner (6) Assists: Jason Spezza (33), Mitch Marner (18), Wayne Simmonds (15), John Tavares (15) Points: Jason Spezza (51), John Tavares (31), Mitch Marner (24) Penalty Minutes Wayne Simmonds (42), Jason Spezza (33), Jake Muzzin (12), John Tavares (12)
2021-22 AVERAGES AND RANKINGS
Points % GF/Game GA/Game PP% PK% SF/G SA/G FO% Toronto .669 3.65 3.02 29.2% 84.2% 34.6 30.7 55.4% Boston .669 3.05 2.65 23.7% 81.6% 35.8 28.9 53.5% THE MAN ADVANTAGE IN 2021-22
Power Play: 50/171 (29.2%) Power Play Goal Leader: 13 – Matthews Power Play Point Leader: 23 – Matthews (13G, 10A), Nylander (8G, 15A) 2020-21 Power Play: 31/155 (20.0%)
ON THE PK IN 2021-22 Penalty Kill: 155/184 (84.2%) Shorthanded Goal Leader: 3 – Mikheyev Shorthanded Point Leader: 4 – Kämpf (2G, 2A) 2020-21 Penalty Kill: 113/144 (78.5%)
FAST FACTS
Tuesday games 10th of 14 (8 home, 6 road) Back-to-Backs played 10 of 13 Record in first game of back-to-back 5-4-1 Record in second game of back-to-back 5-4-1 March games 13th of 14 (9 home, 5 road)
UPCOMING MILESTONES
Michael Bunting Nine games away from 100 career NHL games played Justin Holl 10 games away from 200 career NHL games played Ilya Lyubushkin Four games away from 200 career NHL games played Auston Matthews Six games away from 400 career NHL games played Petr Mrázek Six games away from 300 career NHL games played William Nylander Five assists away from 200 career NHL assists Morgan Rielly Nine assists away from 300 career NHL assists Jason Spezza 10 points away from 1,000 career NHL points John Tavares Six assists away from 500 career NHL assists
RECENT MILESTONES TJ Brodie Recorded his 300th career NHL point, March 13, 2022 at BUF David Kämpf Skated in his 300th career NHL game, March 27, 2022 vs. FLA Alexander Kerfoot Recorded his 100th career NHL assist, Jan. 1, 2022 vs. OTT Timothy Liljegren Scored his first career NHL goal, Jan. 15, 2022 at STL Auston Matthews Recorded his 400th career NHL point, Jan. 31, 2022 vs. NJD Mitch Marner Recorded his 300th career NHL assist, March 27, 2022 vs. FLA Mitch Marner Skated in his 400th career NHL game, March 4, 2022 vs. BUF Mitch Marner Recorded his 400th career NHL point, Feb. 14, 2022 at SEA William Nylander Skated in his 400th career NHL game, Feb. 1, 2022 at NJD Wayne Simmonds Skated in his 1,000th career NHL game, March 5, 2022 vs. VAN Jason Spezza Skated in his 1,200th career NHL game, Nov. 28, 2021 at ANA
BRUINS NOTES
The Bruins host the Maple Leafs tonight in the 2nd of 3 games between these teams this season and Toronto’s lone visit to TD Garden … The Bruins are 41-19-5 this season and they are 20-10-2 on home ice.
The Bruins play game 3 tonight of their 5-game home stand (2-0-0) after playing 14 of their previous 18 games on the road … They will continue hosting Toronto on 3/29, continuing vs. New Jersey on 3/31 and Columbus on 4/2. RECENT GAMES
The Bruins have won their last 4 games with wins in Winnipeg on 3/18 (4-2), in Montreal on 3/21 (3-2/OT), vs. Tampa Bay on 3/24 (3-2) and vs. NY Islanders on 3/26 (6-3) … They are 14-2-1 in their last 17 games overall and they are 5-0-1 their last 6 home games.
Mar. 21: Bos 3 at Mtl 2/OT … The Canadiens held a 2-1 lead into the final 3 minutes of play before Connor Clifton sent the game into OT where Brad Marchand scored his 2nd of the game for the win … Jeremy Swayman took the win … SOG: Bos 46, Mtl 28 … PP: 0/4 … PK: 0/2
Mar. 24: Bos 3 vs TB 2 … David Pastrnak scored the 12th hat trick of his career and Erik Haula added a career-high 3A as the Bruins moved into 3rd place in the Atlantic … Jeremy Swayman earned his 2nd straight win in goal … SOG: Bos 39, TB 24 … PP: 0/5 … PK: 0/3
Mar. 26: Bos 6 vs NYI 3 … Brad Marchand and Taylor Hall (1-2=3 each), Erik Haula and David Pastrnak (1-1=2 each), Craig Smith and Jake DeBrusk were 6 different goal scorers in addition to 2A by Charlie McAvoy … Linus Ullmark extended his point streak to 3-0-1 with the win … SOG: Bos 44, NYI 27 … PP: 1/3 … PK: 2/4 MAN-GAMES LOST TO INJURY – 184
Jakub Zboril: Right knee surgery; Expected to miss remainder of the season MILESTONES APPROACHING
Marc McLaughlin is looking to play his first NHL game.
Charlie McAvoy is three games short of his 300th NHL game.
Nick Foligno is three points shy of his 500th NHL point.
Mike Reilly is six points shy of his 100th NHL point.
David Pastrnak is seven points shy of his 500th NHL point.
Craig Smith is seven points short of 400 NHL points.
Matt Grzelcyk is seven points shy of his 100th NHL point.
Derek Forbort is eight games short of his 400th NHL game.
Patrice Bergeron is eight goals short of his 400th NHL goal … Will become the 4th Bruin in history to hit that milestone. BOSTON vs TORONTO, LIFETIME SERIES 11/6 5-2 L at
The Bruins and Maple Leafs are meeting for the 679th time in their histories with the Bruins having a 301-266-98-13 record and 2,006-2,015 scoring advantage in those games.
The Bruins are 187-99-47-5 vs. the Maple Leafs in Boston with a 1,109-896 margin in those 338 games.
The Bruins lost the 1st game of this season’s series by a 5-2 score on 11/6 and are now 4-1-1 in their last 6 games with a 23-11-5 record in their last 39 games … They have won their last 4 home games and are 13-4-2 in their last 19 games in Boston. NUMBERS 3: Rookies on the Bruins’ current roster –Marc McLaughlin, Jack Studnicka and Jeremy Swayman. 6: Hat tricks by Bruin this season … Patrice Bergeron (1/6/2018 vs CAR; 11/4/2021 vs DET) scored his 2nd career 4-goal game with 7 career hat tricks overall; Brad Marchand (1/12/2022 vs MTL) netted the 5th of his career; David Pastrnak (1/13/2022 vs PHI and 3/24/2022 vs TB) recorded his 11th and 12thcareer 3-goal game; Jake DeBrusk (2/28/2022 at LA) netted 1st of his career; and Craig Smith (3/3/2002 at VGK) scored his 3rd … Pastrnak now ranks tied for 3rd all-time in Bruins hat trick history (Esposito 26, Neely 14, Bucyk 12) … Boston’s consecutive hat tricks scored on 1/12 and 1/13 were the 1st time since 4/7 and 9/1998 with Bruins scoring hat tricks in consecutive games … This is the 1st time since 1987-88 that at lease 5 separate Bruins have scored hat tricks (Neely 3, Kasper, Crowder, Courtnall, Janney). 9: Out of 12 games in the month of March in which the deciding goals were scored in either the last 5 minutes of regulation or OT/SO (9-2-1). 11: Former first round draft picks on the current roster – Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk, Nick Foligno, Derek Forbert, Trent Frederic, Taylor Hall, Curtis Lazar, Hampus Lindholm, Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak, and Jakub Zboril.
11. Two-or-more goal games by a Bruin in 9 of their last 16 games, scored by David Pastrnak (4 times), Jake DeBrusk (twice), Craig Smith (twice), Brad Marchand (twice) and Erik Haula. 11: Players on the Bruins current roster who played college hockey – Connor Clifton, Charlie Coyle, Derek Forbort, Trent Frederic, Matt Grzelcyk, Erik Haula, Charlie McAvoy, Marc McLaughlin, Mike Reilly, Craig Smith and Jeremy Swayman. 11-1-1: Jeremy Swayman’s record in his last 13 games including a 1.74 GAA and .938 Sv% (794 Mins, 23 GA, 373 SA/350 Svs) … That includes a 8- game win streak equalled by 10 previous Bruins with the last by Tuukka Rask in 2017-18. 17: Season series concluded thus far – Ari 2-0-0; Cgy 1-1-0; Car 0-3-0; Chi 2-0-0; Col 1-0-1; Dal 1-1-0; Edm 1-1-0; LA 1-0-1; Min 0-2-0; Nsh 2-0-0; NYI 1-2-0; Phi 2-1-0; Sea 2-0-0; SJ 2-0-0; Van 1-0-1; Vgs 1-1-0; Wpg 2-0-0. 20+: Goals each scored by David Pastrnak (37) and Brad Marchand (28) … It is the 6th 20-or-more goal season for Pastrnak (6th consecutive) and is the 11th such season by Marchand (9th consecutive) … Pastrnak hit the 30-goal mark for the 5th time in his career. 53: Out of 65 games this season with 30-or-more shots in a game, including 17 with 40-or-more in a game … The Bruins have been outshot in just 15 games. 53: Points by Boston with a 25-13-3 record in 41 games in the 1st half of their season (.646 win %age) … The Bruins were 14-8-1 in 23 home games and were 11-5-2 in 18 road contests. 308: Career victories by Tuukka Rask as he announced his Feb. 9, 2022 retirement after a club-record wins in team-record 564 games. 368-23-20: Boston’s record since 2011-12 in games in which they have had a 2-goal lead in a game … That extends to 241-2-6 over that span when they have led by 3 goals 523: Consecutive Bruins games (regular season &playoffs) currently sold out at TD Garden … Their last non-sellout game was on 12/2/2009 when a Wednesday game vs. TB drew 16,553 FUN FACTS
The Bruins play 13 matinees this season (local start time 4:00 pm or earlier) … They have a 9-1-0 record in afternoon games so far.
The Bruins play 11 sets of back-to-back games this season … They are currently 6-1-1 in the 1st game of those sets and are 4-4-0 in the 2nd games so far.
They will play 15 sets of 3-games-in-4-nights this season … They are 7-1-1 in game 1s, 6-3-0 in game 2s &8-1-0 in game 3s of those series thus far.
The Bruins are playing a 14-game March schedule (7 hm/7 rd, 9-2-1) … They will play 15 games in April (7 hm/8 rd) … They played 7 games to October (4-3-0), 12 games in November (7-5-2), 7 games in December (3-2-2), 16 games in January (11-4-1) and 11 games in February (7-3-1). RECENT TRANSACTIONS: March 15: Marc McLaughlin signed to a two-year entry level contract. March 16: Marc McLaughlin assigned to Providence. March 16: Jack Studnicka recalled from Providence. March 19: Hampus Lindholm and Kodie Curran acquired from Anaheim Ducks for Urho Vaakanainen, John Moore, 2022 first round, 2023 second round and 2024 second round draft picks. March 20: Marc McLaughlin recalled from Providence. March 21: Josh Brown and 2022 conditional seventh round draft pick acquired from Ottawa Senators for Zach Senyshyn and 2022 fifth round draft pick
The view from left field 