The Canadiens Completely Shut Down the Bruins 3-0 In Their 1st Meeting of the 2018-19 Season

Is any goaltender in the NHL currently worse in first periods than Tuukka Rask (3-3-0)? That might be a slight exaggeration but it feels that way as another slow start by the Bruins' (6-3-2) embattled goalie put his team in a hole that they ultimately never recovered from in an utterly lifeless 3-0 loss this evening at TD Garden. Montreal (6-2-2) has been one of the early surprises in the league this year and while they don't appear to be anything too special, they certainly own Rask (10-16-3 in his career vs. the Canadiens). Conversely, Carey Price (25-11-5 in his career vs. the Bruins) made 33 mostly routine saves for his 1st shutout of the season and 41st of his NHL career.

The Atlantic Division should continue to be run by Tampa Bay (7-1-1), Toronto (8-3-0) and Boston once again this season so it will take awhile longer for me to take the rebuilding Canadiens seriously. There are three more meetings between these ancient rivals in this campaign but for Chapter 1, you have to give it up for Claude Julien's rag tag group of young guys and no-name veterans. Not counting the garbage time empty-netter late in the third period, Montreal's two even strength goals were scored 1:21 apart midway through the first period. On one hand, you could say that gave the B's plenty of time to recover. However, I would contend that the first one was so weak that it deflated the home team, only to be accentuated by another that came via a bizarre scramble shortly thereafter.

Brendan Gallagher's sixth goal of the season was all thanks to Rask who somehow couldn't squeeze his pads against the near side post at 9:18. Quinnipiac's Matthew Peca and Xavier Ouellet had the assists on a shot that any NHL goaltender should be able to stop in their sleep. Tie Domi's little boy Max got in on the fun with his first career goal against the Bruins at 10:39. Artturi Lehkonen was hooked on a breakaway (it would have been a penalty) but before Boston could touch the puck for the whistle, it went to Domi who initially whiffed on his shot but then had enough time to recover and roof it by Rask (20 saves) for his sixth goal of the season (extending his point-streak to 6 games). Former Lightning bust Jonathan Drouin (8 points in his last 7 games) and Lehnkoen had the helpers on what turned out to be an insurmountable lead for the Canadiens.

Just like Claude's old Bruins teams, Boston controlled play in the third (outshooting Montreal 14-4) but ended up with nothing to show for it. The gameplan wasn't sexy but the Habs certainly executed it as they had eight more hits (28-20), five more takeaways (16-11), four more blocked shots (12-8) & one more faceoff win (35-34) than the B's. Boston's fourth-ranked power play also went 0-for-3 which didn't help matters. Jamie "the other" Benn banked in the empty-netter with 28.2 seconds left in regulation to send the traveling Montreal fans home happy. That was his first point of the season and first goal since Dec. 5, 2017.

There is one game left in October for the B's as they visit another upstart club-Carolina (6-3-1) on Tuesday (7, NESN). It's an odd (and very rare) two-game road trip that ends in Nashville (8-3-0) next Saturday night (8, NESN). The good news is that will be followed by what has the potential to be an entertaining four-game homestand against Dallas (5-4-0), Vancouver (6-5-0), Toronto and Vegas (4-5-1) that lasts for a week. Boston is 4-1-0 at home and 2-2-0 on the road so expect those records to balance themselves out a little bit more.

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