Remember when it felt like the Bruins (25-10-8) could never quite seem to catch up with the Canadiens (18-21-6) both in terms of overall team speed up and down the ice and more importantly on the scoreboard? My oh my how things have changed recently as now Boston has won four straight games against lowly Montreal following tonight's easy 4-1 victory at TD Garden. Of course for Bruins fans, they'll never grow tired of seeing the Habs become a complete dumpster fire like this. After beating them 4-3 in a wild shootout at the Bell Centre on Saturday night, the B's let the Canadiens score the first goal before they slowly made them submit to another defeat. Even better, Boston can beat these jokers three times in eight days since they meet this Saturday night (7, NESN) in Montreal as well. Thanks, NHL schedule makers!
Faster than you could say Handsome Ralph, the Canadiens were up 1-0 as rookie defenseman Jakub Jerabek threw the puck at the net and it deflected in off Zdeno Chara just 31 seconds into regulation. Jerabek's first career NHL goal was assisted by Charles Hudon and Paul Byron. Montreal led the entire game for a grand total of 6:19 as Boston tied it up on a sweet passing play from Brad Marchand to Patrice Bergeron to David Pastrnak for the goal. Marchand was actually on his knees when he flung the puck to Bergeron who quickly dished it to Pastrnak (get it?!) for his 18th goal of the season. Against Isaiah Thomas and Paul Pierce's wishes, the Bruins showed a nice tribute video for Claude Julien that drew a huge ovation from the Garden crowd. See NBA, these things can be done with minimal drama and whining.
In soccer terms, both clubs enjoyed the benefit of an own goal as Ryan Spooner put the Bruins ahead 2-1 at 2:37 of the second period when his attempted pass went off the enigma known as Jonathan Drouin, by Canadiens goaltender Carey Price (28 saves; 13-15-4) and into the net. Spooner's sixth goal of the season was assisted by David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk. Not only is Montreal a terrible team but they are also boring to watch (unless you hate yourself) which is about the worst combination that you can be in sports. They were only down a goal going into the third period but once Marchand bagged a power play goal at 3:40 of the third period, it was basically over. His 19th goal of the season was assisted by Bergeron and Torey Krug. The final score actually could have been way more lopsided as three Bruins hit the crossbar or post (Noel Acciari, David Backes and Krejci) over the course of 60 minutes. Julien pulled Price for an extra attacker with a few minutes left since what the hell right? It predictably backfired immediately as Krejci (8th goal of the season) scored an empty-netter at 16:46 from Backes.
All in all it was a great day for the Black and Gold as they honored former Bruin Willie O'Ree on the 60th anniversary of his first NHL game (he broke the league's color barrier). PS how is he not already in the Hockey Hall of Fame? Boston mayor Marty Walsh declared tomorrow "Willie O'Ree Day" and the city is opening a street hockey rink in his honor which will be completed by this summer in Allston. The B's extended their point streak to 14 games (10-0-4) which is the longest in 2017-18 in the NHL and goaltender Tuukka Rask's (21 saves; 16-8-4) personal point streak reached 15 games (13-0-2) as well. Finally, after missing 36 games recovering from the broken leg that he suffered vs. Vancouver on October 19, veteran defenseman Adam McQuaid returned to action subbing in for Kevan Miller who has the bird flu or something.
The B's are right back at it tomorrow night (7, NESN) against the Islanders (23-19-4) at Barclays Center. New York is one point out of both Wild Card spots in the Eastern Conference so unlike the Canadiens, they have plenty to play for. That figures to be another start for Anton Khudobin (9-2-4) with Rask getting the Canadiens once more on Saturday. If it ain't broke, don't fix it right? So while we chuckle at Julien circling the drain in Montreal (again), realize that these Bruins under head coach Bruce Cassidy are a real force in the East. This is probably looking too far ahead (but what else do you want to hear in mid-January?) but with a few breaks going their way, the Bruins could make this spring a real memorable one for Boston sports teams and I'm not just talking about the Celtics.
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