A bad night for two of the other Boston professional sports teams Monday night. The Boston Celtics were shorthanded and attempting to break a two game losing streak in Brooklyn against the Nets, while the Boston Bruins hoped to build off a huge win over Toronto Saturday with the Montreal Canadiens in town.
At the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York the Brooklyn Nets broke open a close game by outscoring the visiting Celtics by 23 in the third quarter to score a 109-102 win.
Boston was without Kyrie Irving (bruised right quadricep) and Marcus Smart (illness), but stayed in a tight game throughout the first half of play, with Brooklyn (22-23) leading 46-45 at the break. The Nets used a 22-2 spurt in the third to take an 83-61 lead, with the help of D’Angelo Russell who scored 18 of his 34 points in the third quarter including a trio of three pointers (finished with seven from behind the arc in the game). To add insult to injury, Nets fans began to chant, “Kyries leaving, Kyries leaving” early in the fourth quarter with the hosts up 27. Boston (25-18) almost came all the way back outscoring Brooklyn 36-19 in the final frame, but came up short in losing their third straight game to sub .500 teams (Miami, Orlando, Brooklyn). The Nets broke a 10 game winless streak against the Celtics, with their last win coming back on 1/2/16.
Jayson Tatum led Boston with a big game with 34 points on 12-19 shooting, five rebounds, three assists, and three blocks. Jaylen Brown was only other Celtic in double figures with 22 points, six rebounds, and two steals. Russell added five rebounds and seven assists to his 34 point night. Jarrett Allen had 19 points, 12 rebounds, and four blocks. Rodions Kurucs also had 19, while Joe Harris added 13, and Demarre Carroll 10. It gets no easier for the struggling Celtics as they welcome in the first place 33-12 Toronto Raptors to TD Garden Wednesday night at 8 pm.
At TD Garden in Boston, David Krejci scored to tie the game with 36 seconds left in the third period, but the visiting Canadiens who were outshot 43-22 in the game scored on their first rush 15 seconds into overtime to claim the 3-2 win.
An even played first period saw Boston jump to the lead first when Brad Marchand scored his 17th of the season at 14:09 to make it 1-0 Bruins. The play was set up on a Patrice Bergeron pass that sent Marchand in on the left wing, and he ripped a wrist shot from just outside the left face off dots over the shoulder of Habs goalie Carey Price. Brendan Gallagher knotted things up for Montreal at 18:27, off a deflection on a Jeff Petry shot that beat Boston goalie Tuuka Rask five hole. In the second period, the Canadiens jumped ahead when Paul Bryron stole a puck shorthanded and beat Rask on a break-in with a backhander at 17:09 to give Montreal a 2-1 advantage. Boston got their chance for the equalizer late in the third period when the Canadiens were called for a delay of game for shooting a puck out of play with just 2:05 showing on the clock. The Bruins pulled Rask to give them a 6 on 4 advantage, and Krejci scored his 10th of the year with 36.7 seconds left when his wrist shot beat Price stick side high from just outside the right face off dot. Montreal (25-17-5) didn’t waste much picking up the extra point in overtime, as Max Domi broke in down the right wing skated to the front of the net between the circles and put a shot on Rask that hit him in the chest, but deflected up in the air right to defenseman Petry who swatted the puck out of midair with a backhand past Rask to end it 15 seconds after it started. Petry and Bryon both had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens, and Price made 41 saves and had many grade A stops in the second and third period to help steal a road win. Marchand had two points with a goal and an assist for the 26-15-5 Bruins, while Rask stopped 19 shots in the tough luck loss. Montreal didn’t have any powerplay chances, while Boston was 1-3 cashing in on the Krejci late third period goal. The Bruins with a point and another Maple Leafs loss are just one point out of second place in the Atlantic Division, and two points ahead of the third place Canadiens. Boston is at Philadelphia Wednesday night at 7:30 pm to battle the Flyers.
