By: Liz Rizzo | Follow me on Twitter @pastagrl88
It was an original six-match-up tonight at the TD Garden as the Boston Bruins welcomed the Montreal Canadiens. The last time these two teams met, the Bruins defeated the Canadiens 4-2 and tonight’s match-up was no different as the B’s once again found a way to win over Montreal 4-2.
For the first two periods, the Bruins’ gameplay lacked concerted effort and despite the final score, the back-end skills of Jeremy Swayman certainly would be one of the deciding factors in the outcome of the game. A heavily penalized first period saw a total of ten penalties between the two teams and reflected the chippiness of the match-up.
Game Notes
The Boston Bruins got on the scoreboard at 04:34 in the first few minutes of the game as Tyler Bertuzzi scored his first goal in a black and gold jersey. Charlie Coyle and Jakub Zboril were given the assist on the goal. Shortly after the 1-0 lead, remnants of the old rivalry boiled to a head.
Brad Marchand took expectation to high hit on Patrice Bergeron by Montreal’s Rem Pitlick and was assessed a roughing penalty (served by Trent Frederic). Pitlick also sat out on an interference call on Bergeron.
Connor Clifton was assessed for an interference penalty against Michael Pezzetta at 11:28 in the first. Shortly after Clifton skated out of the box, Jake Debrusk gave the B’s a 2-0 lead, wristing the puck past Jake Allen (Bergeron and Clifton with the assist on the goal).
Charlie McAvoy and Jake Evans were assessed roughing and slashing penalties at 14:00. With a little over two minutes left to the period, A.J. Greer would get a five-minute game misconduct and a cross-checking penalty against Mike Hoffman (who was seen going down the tunnel). Nick Suzuki would score on the power play at 19:41 to close out the first period.
The Canadiens continued to play with the man advantage to open up the second period, and luckily the B’s were able to keep the score 2-1. David Pastrnak tallied his 49th goal of the season, giving the B’s a 3-1 lead at 2:36. Tyler Bertuzzi would have the assist on the goal.
Boston continued to have a hard time matching the speed of the Canadiens and were unable to generate consistent plays. Both teams had scoring chances and luckily for the Bruins, goaltender Jeremy Swayman would have his work cut out for him as he kept the lead for Boston.
Despite the effort by Swayman, the Bruins once again found themselves on the penalty kill when Garnet Hathway skated off for a holding infraction. The Canadiens cut into the lead and were one goal away from tying the game as Kirby Dach tipped the puck in past Swayman at 16:13.
After two periods of sporadic and frustrating gameplay from the black and gold, the Bruins were slowly finding their stride as Montreal’s chippy effort limited the teams’ shots on goal. David Krejci gave the Bruins a 4-2 lead as he backhanded the puck past Jake Allen. Clifton and Pastrnak had the assist on the goal.
Despite a very spirited effort, the Canadiens would lose 4-2 in their second-season match-up against the Bruins. Boston would be outshot 31-21 tonight against Montreal. Tyler Bertuzzi tallied two points tonight along with David Pastrnak and Connor Clifton. Swayman made 29 saves in 31 shots; Boston is now 55-11-5. with a final score of 4-2 as they defeated Montreal for the fifth time in a row.
NEXT GAME: Saturday, March 25th versus Tampa Bay Lightning with puck drop at 1:00 PM
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