Best Leafs goals of 2024-25: Mitch Marner completes comeback win vs. Bruins in overtime

Is there anything sweeter than watching the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins? How about watching them overcome a three-goal deficit to take a 5-4 overtime victory (…sound familiar?).

On February 25, Mitch Marner did just that for the Maple Leafs, scoring the game-winning goal in overtime at TD Garden, capping off a big night where the Leafs erased two Bruins’ leads to steal two points.

More than just being a big goal, it also happened in beautiful fashion. The Bruins came out hot, working up to a 3-0 lead by the midway mark. Toronto responded with goals from Morgan Rielly, Mitch Marner, and Nick Robertson to tie it, before Boston took the lead once again halfway through the third. With 45 seconds remaining in regulation, Pontus Holmberg found the tying goal with the extra attacker on the ice.

With one minute remaining in overtime, Anthony Stolarz came up with a huge pad save on Boston’s Mason Lohrei and the Leafs turned it right around. Auston Matthews flipped it to Marner who came through with a burst of speed to earn the breakaway and beat Jeremy Swayman for his second of the night.

It was the team’s third consecutive win, putting up 16 goals over that stretch. Their sixth win over their last seven overall, it came as part of a winter hot streak that positioned them to eventually win the Atlantic Division.

In many ways, Marner’s game-winning screamer represents the best of what the Maple Leafs were capable of this past season. The resilience to rally back from a three-goal deficit, and then find the late tying goal once Boston took the lead again, shows the new mental toughness this team is building under Craig Berube. And for the goal to come after such a huge save from Stolarz just shows how things have improved on all ends of the ice for Toronto.

Beyond all that, every time the Maple Leafs and the Bruins face off, it’s about something bigger. As one of the longest standing rivalries in hockey, the bad blood runs deep. And over the last decade, the shadow of Toronto’s blown 4-1 lead in Game 7 of the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals has cast over all matchups between these two groups.

With that in mind, it’s all too satisfying to watch the Maple Leafs overcome a 3-0 deficit to eventually force overtime where they grabbed the 5-4 win. As Toronto searches for their elusive Stanley Cup, while Boston’s window seems to have closed for now, it’s been a season of re-writing narratives for the Maple Leafs. While this was just a regular season contest, it certainly fits the bill of what this group is trying to do to turn things around.