William Nylander scored two goals and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the visiting Boston Bruins 5-2 Friday night in the final regular-season game for each team.
Both teams rested several top players, especially the Bruins, who were playing on back-to-back nights after defeating the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.
The Maple Leafs (54-21-7, 115 points) will play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs.
The Bruins (51-26-5, 107 points) will play the Carolina Hurricanes.
Toronto swept the three-game season series with Boston.
Ilya Mikheyev, Nicholas Abruzzese and Pierre Engvall also scored for the Maple Leafs, who will have home-ice advantage in the first round.
Erik Kallgren made 24 saves for Toronto.
Trent Frederic and Jake DeBrusk scored for Boston. Craig Smith added two assists.
Jeremy Swayman stopped 22 shots for Boston.
Toronto had a 10-6 edge in shots on goal in taking a 3-1 lead in the first period.
Frederic scored his eighth goal of the season, knocking in a deflection at 1:10 after Smith’s wraparound.
Toronto tied it on Mikheyev’s 21st goal of the season, a deflection of Mark Giordano’s shot on a power play at 3:51. Marc McLaughlin was serving a double minor for high-sticking.
Nylander scored at 13:16 of the first after his steal in the Toronto defensive zone resulted in a breakaway.
Abruzzese scored his first career NHL goal at 19:52, deflecting Morgan Rielly’s shot.
Toronto led 20-15 in shots on goal after two periods.
Nylander scored his 34th goal of the season eight minutes into the third period on a nine-foot forehand shot.
Boston had a goal disallowed at 10:24 of the third when a review determined the play was offside.
DeBrusk scored his 25th of the season on a 22-footer on a power play at 12:49 of the third. TJ Brodie was off for holding.
Engvall scored into an empty net at 19:50, his 15th goal of the season.
Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Taylor Hall, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Erik Haula and David Pastrnak were among the scratches for Boston.
Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner and John Tavares were among those not playing for Toronto.
–Field Level Media
