The Bruins Outplay the Canadiens For the Most Part but Still Find a Way to Lose 3-2 In Overtime

After closing the regular season series in style vs. Buffalo (23-17-6) and Toronto (28-15-2) respectively, Boston (26-15-5) had a chance to similarly finish 3-1 vs. Montreal (25-17-5) with a win at TD Garden this evening. Instead, their Original Six rivals managed to survive a barrage of pucks (the B's outshot them 43-22) and a last-second tying goal to come away with a 3-2 overtime victory thanks to Jeff Petry's game-winner just 15 seconds into the extra session. Canadiens goaltender Carey Price (18-13-4) did his best Braden Holtby impression as he improved to 26-13-5 vs. the Bruins in his career.

Entering tonight, Boston had been 16-6-0 at the Garden and they increased their likelihood to win as Brad Marchand gave them a 1-0 lead at 14:09 of the first period. His beautiful snipe was a bar down shot on Price with Patrice Bergeron and Matt Grzelcyk picking up the assists on his 17th goal of the season. The Bruins were 16-3-2 when they score first this season but Montreal quickly answered when Marchand Jr. aka Brendan Gallagher tipped in Jeff Petry's shot at 18:27 of the first. That little rat's 18th goal of the season was also assisted by Phillip Danault who won the faceoff (against Marchand after Bergeron was mysteriously kicked out) and passed it back to Petry at the point. Between those goals was one of the best fights that you'll ever see in the NHL these days: Kevan Miller vs. something called Nicolas Deslauriers (a 4th line right wing). If you like hockey fights (and what red-blooded American doesn't?), you have to check that one out on hockeyfights.com.

For all the fun and excitement of the first, there was little of either in the second. Boston owns the No. 3 power play in the NHL which is all well and good but they have also allowed 10 shorthanded goals which is the most in the NHL. Yuck. Paul Byron skated in on a breakaway and beat Tuukka Rask (19 saves) with a backhander at 17:09. Byron's 10th goal of the season was unassisted and it's hard to fault Rask on that one. Tuukka had won his last five starts so I suppose that he was due for an off-night although this loss hung on many shoulders, not only his.

Donning their Winter Classic jerseys, the black and gold had more shots than the Canadiens in every frame but the third was by far the most lopsided (17-4 good guys). Montreal looked like it would survive with a Claude Julien special (a 2-1 win where you get dominated) but the immortal Michael Chaput-a fourth line center-that was out there in crunch time had other ideas. He was called for delay of game with 2:05 left in regulation when he put the puck over the glass in his defensive zone. Boston couldn't score on the power play until Rask was pulled for an extra skater. With a 6-on-4 advantage and time running out, David Krejci blasted in the tying goal with 37.6 seconds left on the clock. Krejci's 10th goal of the season (3rd game in a row with a goal) was assisted by Marchand and David Pastrnak.

The B's were 4-4 in overtime while the Habs were 2-5 but that proved to be a useless stat as Montreal won the opening faceoff and Boston never touched the puck before they lost. Max Domi took the original shot that was saved by Rask but Petry was on the doorstep to bat it in (without the use of a high stick) for his 10th goal of the season. Byron had the second helper on Petry's 200th career NHL point. It was a stunning end to a game that at times was a thriller but also a complete bore (thanks Claude!) for long stretches as well.

It's a practice day tomorrow at Warrior Ice Arena for the Bruins before they travel to Philadelphia. The Flyers (17-23-6) have the second fewest points in the NHL but for some reason, the geniuses at NBC Sports thought before the season that this matchup would be worthy of their coveted rivalry night spot on Wednesday (7:30). From there, Boston rushes back to meet the lowly Blues (20-20-4) on Thursday (7, NESN) at the Garden. Finally, the unofficial first half of their campaign comes to a close here on Saturday night (7, NESN) as they host former BU head coach David Quinn and the rebuilding Rangers (18-20-7). The schedule czars were definitely Boston's friend in this instance because they head into their bye week which leads directly into the All-Star break which is the following weekend. That means that their next game following New York isn't until January 29 vs. Winnipeg (29-14-2). Even that is at the Garden so theoretically, the Bruins don't have to leave the Boston area for over two weeks and really where else would you rather be at the end of January than this frozen tundra?

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Bruins Fall 4-2 to the Canadiens in their First Meeting of the Season

We are nowhere close to being sure if the Canadiens (4-0-1) are a quality team in 2016-17 but this much is true: they are better than the assorted slop that the Bruins (3-2-0) faced in their first four games of this campaign (Columbus, Toronto, Winnipeg and New Jersey). Many of the names and faces have changed but in this opening installment of Bruins-Canadiens, Boston was no match for Montreal as they lost 4-2 at TD Garden. Tuukka Rask (general soreness) was surprisingly out for the B's but backup goaltender Anton Khudobin (25 saves) did the best he could on short notice, frankly his teammates let him down for the most part. Oh and Montreal improved to 7-0-2 in their last nine regular season games in Boston, yeesh!

Carey Price (19 saves) didn't need to be anywhere near his best since Boston only managed 21 shots on goal in the entire contest. After a scoreless first period, Montreal potted a pair of goals midway through the second. Brad Marchand's brother from another mother Brendan Gallagher made it 1-0 Canadiens at 11:41. He was left wide open above a face-off circle to fire an easy one-timer from Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk for his third goal of the season. Something named Phillip Danault doubled Montreal's lead at 17:44 when he finished a 2-on-1 from Alexander Radulov for his first goal of the season. Greg Pateryn notched the second helper on the goal that came courtesy of the Bruins getting caught up ice.

The Bruins trailed 2-0 going into the third but thankfully, they woke up a bit thanks to another goal from their fourth line that has already shown some nice chemistry early on. Harvard's Dominic Moore got the goal, assisted by my PC guys Tim Schaller and Noel Acciari. Moore's second tally of the season came at 5:34 to cut it to 2-1 Canadiens. Montreal didn't give Boston much of a sniff at a comeback attempt though as "Lord" Paul Byron broke free for a shorthanded breakaway and goal less than two minutes later at 7:32. Shea Weber (who you might have heard was traded straight up for P.K. Subban over the summer with Nashville) banked the pass to him off the boards that eluded Torey Krug pinching in at Montreal's offensive zone. Andrei Markov had the second assist on Byron's first goal of the season.

Boston's scuffling power play (2 for 20) finally came through 37 seconds after Byron's backbreaking goal as Ryan Spooner (who for some reason was a healthy scratch on Thursday vs. the Devils) hammered in a one-timer from David Backes' sweet cross-crease sauce. David Krejci had the other assist on Spooner's first goal of the season. The B's put some pressure on the Habs for a few minutes when it was a one-goal game but yet again, their suspect defense fell apart when UVM's Torrey Mitchell stole the puck from Joe Morrow and put it past Khudobin with a beautiful diving shot (while he got a high stick in the face by Morrow for his troubles).

This inaugural three-game homestand ends on Tuesday night (7, NESN) as the Bruins host the Wild (3-1-1). Minnesota is at the Islanders (2-3-0) tomorrow night but at the moment, they are in first-place in the Central Division. Unless it's something really serious, you'd have to think that Rask will be back for that one. Following that matchup, Boston heads out on a four-game road trip (Rangers, Red Wings, Panthers and Lightning) that promises to be much more difficult than their first trip. Plus those are all Eastern Conference foes that they'll be seeing plenty of from now until April and hopefully beyond.

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Canadiens Embarrass Bruins 5-1 at Gillette Stadium In The 2016 Winter Classic

It is one thing for a much-hyped event not to live up to expectations but it's another for the home team to completely fall on its face in the biggest game of the regular season in front of a worldwide audience on NBC. Today, Gillette Stadium was the setting for one of the lowest moments in recent Bruins (20-13-4) history as they fell 5-1 to the Canadiens in the 2016 Winter Classic. It wasn't even that competitive as Montreal (22-15-3) jumped ahead 1-0 just 1:14 into the game, led 3-0 after two periods and cruised to an easy victory in this bitter rivalry that has had 733 regular season meetings (most in NHL history).

With the two points, the Habs leapfrogged idle Florida back into first-place in the Atlantic Division. It marked the fourth time in the last few weeks that the B's have had a chance to take over the top-spot, only to lose. The easy excuse for the Bruins was that they were missing two of their best players-Brad Marchand (serving the first game of his 3-game suspension) and David Krejci (on IR with upper-body injury). Conversely, Montreal welcomed back Brendan Gallagher who had missed the past 17 games with two broken fingers. He returned with a goal and assist as he provided an immediate spark to what had been a sputtering team without him. Of course, injuries happen to every team and Marchand's reckless play was his own fault so it's hard to feel much sympathy for Boston's current plight.

I doubt anyone on the Canadiens enjoyed this triumph more than Holliston, MA native Mike Condon (27 saves) who had Tom Brady printed on his special mask for the Winter Classic. Even cooler than that, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick (the mask also said "Do Your Job") and Brady both signed it since they were temporary neighbors for Montreal's goaltender this week. Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (25 saves) did not have quite as enjoyable an afternoon since his teammates were lifeless and there was little that he could do by himself to prevent most of the five goals. Late in the game, he took a shot to the throat but valiantly stayed in.

David Desharnais was scoreless in his past seven contests so naturally he opened the scoring when he batted the puck out of mid-air. It was his eighth goal of the season, assisted by Dale Weise and Alexei Emelin. Considering that Boston was outshot 14-3 in the first period, they were lucky to only be down 1-0 after 20 minutes. Another nobody tallied a goal for Montreal as Paul Byron dove to put in a rebound at 2:00 of the second. Lynnfield MA native Brian Flynn and Mark Barberio assisted on Byron's sixth goal of the season. A cross-checking penalty on Kevan Miller knocked Dale Weise (upper-body injury) out of the game but the Canadiens power play couldn't capitalize. Boston appeared to cut it to 2-1 at 8:20 when Jimmy Hayes put in what would have been a power play goal following Zdeno Chara's initial shot. The referees blew the whistle when they thought that Condon had the puck covered (he didn't) so Bruins head coach Claude Julien (rocking a Belichick style Bruins hoodie) couldn't challenge it.

Rask made a nice stop on Gallagher but minutes later, Montreal's pesky right wing knocked in Max Pacioretty's aerial pass at 17:20 for a commanding 3-0 lead. It was a sublime piece of skill that basically put away the game for the Canadiens with more than an entire period left. Tomas Plekanec had the second assist on Gallagher's 10th goal of the season. With Boston's shorthanded attack, there was no way that they were scoring three or more goals following that. Since he was the only Bruin with a positive +/- today, it was fitting that Matt Beleskey bagged their only goal. He tipped in Adam McQuaid's shot from the point at 3:56 of the third period. Ryan Spooner had the second assist on Beleskey's eighth goal of the season which gave Boston (and the crowd) some brief life for almost five whole minutes of game action.

Pacioretty shut down the B's with a beautiful one-timer off a saucer pass from Gallagher at 8:49 of the third. Plekanec picked up his second assist on Pacioretty's team-leading 16th goal of the season. Hayes and Lars Eller tried to brawl in garbage time but it wasn't really a fight so they were just called for roughing. 10 seconds later, Byron knocked in another rebound from P.K. Subban and Nathan Beaulieu. Truth be told, Montreal deserved to win by (at least) four goals while Boston should have lost by about 10 goals for the pitiful effort they put up in front of a sell-out crowd (67,246).

Boston's next game isn't until Tuesday (7, NESN) when they host Washington (28-7-2)-the top team in the Eastern Conference. Needless to say, that's a huge tilt especially because the Bruins head out on a five-game road trip (Devils, Senators, Rangers, Flyers and Sabres). Then again, this is the same team that remains under .500 at home (9-10-2) while they are 11-3-2 on the road. It is going to be a rough few days trying to digest this bitter loss, mostly because they figure to hear about it non-stop until Tuesday. Keep in mind though, that they are still only three points behind Montreal with three games in hand and two points behind Florida (21-12-4).

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For A Change, the Bruins Decide to Play Well In Montreal & Actually Beat the Canadiens (3-1)

In recent seasons, the NHL's undisputed best rivalry-Bruins vs. Canadiens-had been downgraded since frankly it became extremely one-sided. That's what made tonight so sweet: Boston (15-9-3) went into the Bell Centre and knocked off Montreal (19-7-3) 3-1. The Canadiens still lead the season series 2-1 with two more games left to play (both in 2016) but at least for once, the B's didn't get psyched out by the Habs.

If it felt like it had been a while since Boston beat Montreal, you were correct. This win for the Bruins snapped a seven-game losing streak (0-6-1) to the Habs. The best element of this for them was that goaltender Tuukka Rask (32 saves) was great as he earned the No. 1 star of the game.

It was a very slow start for Boston as they gave up a stupid fluke goal at 8:49 of the first period. Defenseman Paul Byron threw the puck in front of Rask and it deflected in the net off of Zach Trotman. After the goal initially went to Tomas Plekanec, Byron was correctly credited with his fourth goal of the season and Plekanec (a noted Bruins killer) picked up the lone assist.

Montreal outshot Boston 14-7 in the first period and 12-7 in the second period but Rask kept them in it. Also, it helped that they weren't suckered into dumb penalties like usual when they face the Canadiens (hi Milan Lucic). Brad Marchand and P.K. Subban got matching slashing penalties late in the first while Montreal had two penalties in the second (interference on Tomas Fleischmann and roughing on Christian Thomas) and Trotman was called for hooking but none of the power plays cashed in.

Belmont Hill alum and Needham native Mike Condon (20 saves) is Montreal's No. 1 goaltender for a while with Carey Price on the shelf (lower-body injury). He has been fine although this turned out to be their third loss in a row. In fact, Boston is only eight points behind Montreal in the Atlantic Division now with two games in hand. Haha I know, I know. Just saying. To call the Bruins' third period comeback unexpected is quite an understatement.

The B's tied it at 7:53 on a beautiful shorthanded goal by Loui Eriksson (to quote Rounders: "Pay the man his money"). Zdeno Chara started the play by batting the puck out of mid-air right to a streaking (easy ladies) Eriksson who fought off a check to finish with a nice shot down low on Condon. It was Eriksson's 11th goal of the season. Just 42 seconds later, cult hero Landon Ferraro (with his dad Ray faithfully in the stands) scored the go-ahead goal. He roofed it blocker side on a screened Condon after a nifty backhand assist by Ryan Spooner. Torey Krug had the second assist on Ferraro's third goal in a Bruins uniform (talk about a timely waiver wire pickup by GM Don Sweeney a few weeks ago).

It was only fitting that Patrice Bergeron put it on ice with a pretty insurance tally at 13:42 from who else but Brad Marchand. Matt Beleskey had the second assist on Bergy's ninth goal of the season where he received the puck close to Condon and was able to deke around him to tuck it in.

This is one game basically a third of the way through the 2015-16 campaign but it was a most vital victory for the B's. They had to prove to themselves and the world at large that they could still beat the Canadiens every once in a while. The timing couldn't have worked out better with the Winter Classic only a few weeks away at Gillette Stadium. Boston can go into that confident and without that long losing streak hanging over their collective heads.

The Bruins' next game is on Saturday afternoon (1, NESN) against the Panthers (13-11-4). That contest will be important in a different fashion since Boston is only up three points on Florida (with a game in hand) in the Atlantic Division. Nevertheless, the B's are playing some quality hockey (7-1-2 in last 10 games) while Florida has dropped its last two games heading into Thursday's meeting with red-hot Washington (19-5-2).

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