The Boston Bruins got goals from four different players Monday night and dominated play in a 4-0 win over the rival Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. Boston ended a two game losing streak, where they allowed two late third period goals in losses at Pittsburgh and at home against Buffalo over the weekend.
Boston (18-12-4) thoroughly outplayed the hosts the entire night especially the first period and a half, but had just a Joakim Nordstrom first period goal to show for it and a 1-0 lead. The Bruins outshot the Habs 12-5 in the opening 20 minutes, and held the puck in the Montreal zone for 10 minutes compared to just five minutes for the opposition. Montreal (17-12-5) didn’t have shot on goal in the second period until almost eight minutes in. Colby Cave, playing in his 13th game this season and 16th NHL game, recorded his first career goal off a great feed from Charlie McAvoy with 26 seconds left in the second to make it 2-0. Boston continued to add on 46 seconds into the third with McAvoy picking up another assist on a three on one and locating David Krejci to the left of Montreal goalie Carey Price. Krejci calmly received the pass just below the faceoff dot, and lifted the puck over Prices shoulder stick side making it 3-0. Brad Marchand finished off the scoring on the night 4:20 later, on another great passing play from Torey Krug and David Pastrnak. Krug won a puck battle on the left wing boards, and centered it into the slot finding Pastrnak. Pastrnak faked a shot and got Price out of position, sending a backhanded pass to Marchand to his right who was wide open and fired it into a half empty cage. Cave finished with a two point night, also adding an assist in the win. McAvoy and Pastrnak also had two point nights with two assists each.
Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves for his third shutout of the season in the Boston net. Price made 31 in the Montreal loss. The Bruins were 1-3 on the powerplay, while the Canadiens were 0-3. Boston leapfrogs over Montreal into fourth place in the Atlantic Division. The Bruins (40 points) are five points behind second place Buffalo and four behind third place Toronto. Tampa Bay leads the division with 52 points with 50 games still to play. Boston opens up a short two game homestand when they welcome in the Anaheim Ducks Thursday night at 7 pm.
