The Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins were both in action on Tuesday night looking to extend early season winning streaks. The Celtics were in Cleveland looking to extend their streak to five, while the Bruins were in Montreal hoping to extend their winning streak to seven and points streak to 11 straight.
At Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Gordon Hayward scored a career high 39 points as the Boston Celtics won their fifth straight game holding off the Cleveland Cavaliers 119-113.
Cleveland (2-5) scored the first basket of the game but then Boston scored 11 of the next 12 points and never trailed again building as much as a 13 point lead. Hayward had 16 points in the first quarter and 22 in the first half. He made all 16 two point baskets he attempted from the floor in the game and overall shot 17-22. The Cavaliers did cut the Celtics lead to three twice in the last two minutes of the game but Boston made three from the foul line in the last 30 seconds to ice the win.
Hayward added seven rebounds and eight assists to his game high in points. Kemba Walker added 25 points, eight rebounds, and three assists. Jayson Tatum had 17 points and seven rebounds, while rookie Carsen Edwards rounded out the double digit scorers with 13 points off the bench to help the green improve to 5-1. Cleveland put six players in double figures led by Collin Sexton who had 21 points. Tristan Thompson had a double double with 19 points, 13 rebounds, and also adding four assists. Boston will travel to Charlotte to battle the Hornets Thursday night at 8 p.m.
At the Bell Centre in Montreal, the Boston Bruins saw their six game win streak and 10 game points streak come to an end as Ben Chiarot scored a game winner with just under 11 minutes left as the Canadiens took the 5-4 win.
Boston (11-2-2) played from behind all night. Victor Mete scored his first of two goals on the night to open the scoring in the first period at 1:13. The Bruins responded when David Pastrnak extended his points streak to 13 straight games with a powerplay goal at 14:55 to tie it 1-1. Montreal (8-5-2) took the lead back just under two minutes later when Tomas Tatar scored, and Paul Byron followed that up with a marker 31 seconds later for a 3-1 advantage.
Connor Clifton and Anders Bjork got the visitors even scoring goals at 7:17 and 18:13 of the second period. The tie didn’t last long however as Mete scored his second of the night 42 seconds after Bjork tied it to make it 4-3 Canadiens. Sean Kuraly scored his first of the year at 3:03 of the third to even it again 4-4. Later in the period Boston looked like it had jumped ahead when Charlie Coyle chipped one past Montreal goalie Carey Price. The Canadiens challenged the play for offsides on Coyle, and after a review it was confirmed Coyle had gone offsides prior to entering the zone. Shortly after Chariot got the game winner at 10:54 re-directing a shot from the left faceoff circle.
Tuuka Rask made 26 saves in the Boston loss. No Bruins had multiple points in the game, and Brad Marchand had his points streak come to an end at 13 games. Mete had two goals, Tatar and Chariot each had a goal and an assist, while Jeff Petry also added two assists for the winners. Price made 21 saves. The Bruins were 1-2 on the powerplay, while the Canadiens were 0-2. Boston will travel to Detroit to face the Red Wings Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
