Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle's snap shot 2:12 into overtime secured the win for Montreal, which had lost their previous 10 games against Boston.
The Boston Bruins had their 10-game winning streak against the Montreal Canadiens snapped with a 3-2 overtime loss at Bell Center on Saturday.
Kaiden Guhle scored the winning goal for Montreal, taking advantage of a weak clearance swipe from Matt Poitras to bury it from the slot at 2:12 of overtime.
Brad Marchand had a goal and an assist, and Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves for Boston, which dropped to 11-1-2. Charlie McAvoy notched two assists in his return from a four-game suspension.
Pavel Zacha scored just 36 seconds in, redirecting McAvoy’s shot from the point to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
After the early goal, there wasn’t much action for either side in the opening frame, with each side finishing the period with six shots on goal.
A scoreless second period saw Montreal take the shots advantage (17-13 total), thanks in large part to Boston committing three penalties in the final 5:15, but Swayman and the penalty kill held off the Canadiens to maintain the one-goal lead entering the final frame.
The Bruins had 33 seconds left of the final second-period penalty to kill at the beginning of the third period, but Nick Suzuki tied it with a wrister with just nine seconds left on the power play.
The Canadiens struck again 27 seconds later. This time Brendan Gallagher established himself at the net front and fell down, but he still managed to swing his stick and push the puck around Swayman to take a 2-1 lead at 0:51 of the third.
Oskar Steen appeared to tie it at 2:04 by redirecting Ian Mitchell’s shot from long range, but Montreal successfully challenged for goaltender interference.
The Bruins received a huge opportunity when Alex Newhook and Gallagher committed separate hooking penalties on the same sequence, giving the Bruins 29 seconds of 4-on-3 before another 1:31 of 5-on-3 with Marchand already in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct, but Montreal successfully killed it off.
However, when a Tanner Pearson trip on Derek Forbort put Boston back on the power play at 12:49, the Bruins wouldn’t pass up the next opportunity, with David Pastrnak finding Marchand on the doorstep to tie it 2-2 at 12:58.
Swayman stoned Mike Matheson 31 seconds into overtime, but Guhle’s goal shortly after handed the Bruins their third loss of any kind this season.