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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