The Montreal Canadiens did their best to tie up their long-time rivals but the Boston Bruins prevailed with an overtime win.
GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens 1 vs Boston Bruins 2 | FINAL/OT
Canadiens Lineup
Forwards
22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky
89 Joshua Roy - 15 Alex Newhook - 40 Joel Armia
11 Brendan Gallagher - 71 Jake Evans - 17 Josh Anderson
70 Tanner Pearson - 36 Colin White - 49 Rafael Harvey-Pinard
Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 21 Kaiden Guhle
72 Arber Xhekaj - 58 David Savard
47 Jayden Struble - 26 Johnathan Kovacevic
Goaltenders
Starter: 35 Sam Montembeault
Alternate: 30 Cayden Primeau
Out of the lineup
Scratches: Jesse Ylonen, Michael Pezzetta, Jordan Harris
Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), Christian Dvorak (upper body)
Habs Hockey Report
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLTZYCYPmG0[/embed]
Game Report
The Canadiens came into this game vowing to take revenge for a 9-4 shellacking by the Bruins when the two teams last met. And while the Habs went down to defeat in overtime, they earned some measure of respect from their fans for disrupting one of the top teams in the league.
Yet, the game didn't start well for the home side. Boston dominated the first 11 minutes of play spending most of the time in the offensive zone. With nine minutes left in the opening frame the Bruins were outshooting the Canadiens 8-1, led in high-danger scoring chances 4-0, and held a 1-0 lead on a goal by Danton Heinen.
But the Canadiens began to find their legs creating opportunities of their own. Montreal outshot the visitors 6-1 in the back half of the period and tied the score with Nick Suzuki scoring his 26th goal of the campaign.
It was in the second period where the Canadiens best played the role of disruptor. As such, the game ground to a crawl with neither team being able to create offense. The two teams combined for just one high danger scoring chance at even strength and endured a 10 minute stretch where neither one could muster a shot on goal.
The third period followed a similar pattern although the Bruins enjoyed a three-minute man advantage that was handled perfectly by Canadiens penalty killers.
In overtime, Mike Matheson made an ill-advised decision to carry the puck behind the Boston net and lost a puck battle creating a two-on-one for the Bruins. Jake DeBrusk scored 25 seconds into the extra frame to send the Bruins home with their third win of the season over the Canadiens.
Game Statistics
Canadiens (25-30-11)
Shots: 19
Face-off %: 50.0
Power play: 0/3
Penalty minutes: 8
Hits: 16
Blocks: 21
Bruins (39-14-15)
Shots: 23
Face-off %: 50.0
Power play: 0/4
Penalty minutes: 6
Hits: 18
Blocks: 18
Scoring Summary
Canadiens Scorers
1st period: Suzuki (26)
2nd period: --
3rd period: --
OT: --
SO: --
Bruins Scorers
1st period: Heinen (12)
2nd period: --
3rd period: --
OT: DeBrusk (16)
SO: --
Goaltenders
MTL: Montembeault (OTL) 13-12-6
BOS: Ullmark (W) 18-7-7
Canadiens Player of the Game
Joel Armia - Armia led the team with three shots on goal and led Habs forwards with three hits. He also was perfect in 4:16 of penalty killing duty.
Jake Evans - Evans leads all NHL centres in penalty kill time on ice including 4:27 tonight while Montreal was shorthanded.
Video Highlights
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J27KJhe-aY[/embed]
Post-game Quotes
David Savard
"We fought extremely hard against a team that has excelled for years and is experienced. We gave them a good fight."
Juraj Slafkovsky
"I can't change what happened in the past. The guy I was watching scored so I have to watch the sequence again to figure out what I could do better next time. I’m moving forward."
Up Next
The Canadiens head out on a five game Western road trip beginning in Calgary on Saturday night.
Be sure to bookmark THN.com/Montreal for year-round coverage of the Montreal Canadiens, Laval Rocket, and Habs prospects playing in leagues around the world.
