After a disappointing overtime loss on Tuesday night, the Montreal Canadiens hoped to bounce back in a rivalry meeting with the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Despite missing some practices this week, Nick Suzuki and Jake Evans were in the lineup as Mike Matheson returned, sending Adam Engstrom to the press box. As if the Habs needed any more motivation against the Bruins, the game felt like a homecoming of sorts for many members of the Tricolore, who played college hockey in Boston: Jacob Fowler, Lane Hutson, Matheson, Chris Kreider, and Alex Newhook.

Despite Tuesday’s loss, Fowler got the start after a strong performance, and for those who like stats, before Thursday night’s game, he was the only Montreal netminder to win a road game in Boston in the last 11 duels between the two sides at TD Garden.

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Once upon a time, teams only had to counter the Canadiens’ first line to have a good chance of winning, but that’s no longer true against this iteration of the Habs. Martin St-Louis’ men came to play, and it wasn’t the usual suspects who gave the Habs a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes; Kirby Dach and Josh Anderson did.

Although this is only Dach’s second game of the season, it’s hard not to admit that he’s been doing well so far. Now that he’s not getting any more top-six opportunities and can feel younger players breathing down his neck for his roster spot, the big Albertan is a changed man.

As for Anderson, he’s not got eight goals in 18 games; last year, he finished with fourteen goals in 72 contests. So far this year, he’s on pace for 37 lamplighters. Granted, it would be surprising if he kept it up; after all, his career best is 27 goals in a season, but it’s useful while it lasts, and the man won’t complain about a productive season in a contract year.

In the season frame, Jake Evans, Caufield (one of the usual suspects), and Phillip Danault score to make it 5-0, at least momentarily, but the Bruins found the back of the net before the end of the frame. Still, Montreal was up 5-1 after 40 minutes, and only one member of the top line had a point.

It’s worth mentioning that the depth scoring did much of the heavy lifting in the playoffs last season; it’s almost as if they got a taste of it and enjoyed it.

On his former home turf (city-wise at least), Fowler was once again solid and got a ninth win in a row on the road, the second-highest number by a rookie netminder. Brent Johnson, who didn’t last long in the NHL, currently holds the record with 11 straight.

While the Canadiens came out strong in the first and were dominating shot-wise, the Bruins woke up in the second, and by the end of the game, they had the upper hand in shots 32-30. The rookie netminder once again made a difference, with several big saves and at the end of the day, he outperformed Jeremy Swayman, who was pulled at 4-0; not that the loss was his fault, but he just couldn’t make the big, momentum-building saves.

Fowler did, and when the Bruins managed to score a couple, his safe play built his team’s confidence and helped them shut the door. That’s the kind of situation where a confident goaltender can make a world of difference.

It wasn’t a great game, or at least not a great outcome for Kreider. In the third frame, Michael Eyssimont fell in his legs, and it looked like his left leg bent in a way it wasn’t meant to. Kreider fell to the ice and looked distressed. When the play was blown dead, he immediately got up and made his way down the tunnel on one leg.

Of course, the Canadiens had no update on his health by the end of the game, but it certainly didn’t look good. If Kreider has to miss significant time, it could give Florian Xhekaj another opportunity to prove himself. Until Ivan Demidov comes back, of course.

The Canadiens picked up both points with a 5-2 win and leapfrogged them in the Atlantic Division. Montreal isn’t first, though; the Tampa Bay Lightning is, thanks to having more regulation wins. Stop me if you’ve heard that one before.

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