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Bruins protest Auston Matthews' controversial Game 5 goal

Auston Matthews’ goal in Game 5 certainly wasn’t without controversy. (Getty)
Auston Matthews’ goal in Game 5 certainly wasn’t without controversy. (Getty)

Auston Matthews scored the most important goal of his career against the Boston Bruins on Friday night but it didn’t come without controversy, as the Toronto Maple Leafs emerged with a 2-1 victory.

Matthews took a clean pass from Jake Muzzin and deposited a one-timer in the cage for the game’s opening tally. The Bruins challenged the ruling after it appeared that Leafs forward Zach Hyman made contact with goaltender Tuukka Rask, but the original decision was upheld.

To little surprise, Rask disagreed with the ruling.

“I felt contact, so I went after the ref there and let him know there was contact. They looked at it so it’s a goal. I saw him, he had the puck — as soon as he passed it, it kind of like bumped my head. But I trust them to get it right,” Rask said, according to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan.

“Clearly interferes with Tuukka,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy added, via Sportsnet’s Luke Fox.

Matthews, who had several goals overturned during the regular season, appeared to be more relieved than anything.

“I was just praying they were going to call it a goal,” Matthews said to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston.

Two minutes after Matthews scored his fourth goal of the playoffs, Kasperi Kapanen notched the game-winner. Boston cut the lead to 2-1 on a David Krejci tally with 44 seconds left but Toronto prevailed with the victory and took a 3-2 series lead.

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