By: Andrew Bluestein | Follow Me On Twitter / X @adbblue
The Boston Bruins got back in the win column, defeating their hated rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1 in overtime Thursday night at the Belle Center. This followed an absolute snoozer of a 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Monday night.
Andrew Peeke made his Bruins debut, playing 17:01 and having an even rating. The Black and Gold played solid defense, holding the Canadiens to 19 shots. Despite having just 24 shots of their own, the Black and Gold were able to gut out a win.
First Period
On the first couple of shifts in the game, Montreal had the Bruins pinned on their own end, but everything was kept to the perimeter. Boston pushed back and had the game’s first quality scoring chance. Danton Heinen redirected a Brandon Carlo shot on Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault, and Pavel Zacha chipped the rebound off the crossbar. Soon after that, the Black and Gold struck first on a rebound goal by Heinen that was set up by a great pass-and-shoot play from Zacha to David Pastrnak. That made it a 1-0 game.
Montreal responded with a solid shift but couldn’t generate a shot on goal. Boston received the first power play of the game, coming on an interference penalty committed by Kaiden Guhle. They created a few golden opportunities with Jake DeBrusk as the catalyst, but none of them crossed the goal line. Johnny Beecher, who was recently called up from AHL affiliate Providence, had a strong shift midway through the opening frame.
He had a high-danger chance on the doorstep that Montembeault turned aside, and he put a solid check on into the end boards. Nick Suzuki had undoubtedly Montreal’s best chance of the period, but Linus Ullmark stoned it. After the Bruins failed to get the puck out of the defensive zone, Suzuki buried a loose puck into a gaping net to tie the game 1-1. Boston had one last chance in the final seconds on a two-on-one with Zacha and Pastrnak, but they couldn’t connect. The Bruins had the edge in shots on net 10-7.
Second Period
David Pastrnak had the first chance of the period on a blast from up high that stuck in the gut of Montembeault. Morgan Geekie then drew a holding penalty, giving Boston their second power play. They showed outstanding puck movement in the first half of the man advantage but had a hard time entering the attacking zone in the second half, and the opportunity expired. Joel Armia had a great chance of ripping the puck on Ullmark from the hash marks, and he made a dazzling kick save. Justin Brazeau made his presence known after putting a huge hit on Mike Matheson in the corner.
Pastrnak had a breakaway from center ice and made a disgusting move on Montembeault, but he couldn’t stay with the puck. Directly following that, Heinen was called for the Bruins’s first penalty of the night. The penalty killer went to work and managed to kill it off. Then, with 1:15 left, Parker Wotherspoon was called for delay of the game after shooting the puck over the glass in the defensive zone when Boston was pinned. The penalty carried over to the third. The shots on goal were even 5-5.
Third Period and Overtime
Montreal started the period with 0:45 left of power play time from the Wotherspoon delay of game penalty, but the Bruins killed it off. The next few minutes featured some fast-paced back-and-forth hockey, but neither team could establish a clean rush. Jesper Boqvist had a great chance after receiving a drop pass, but Jordan Harris blocked it. With 8:53 to go, Jakub Lauko was called for holding Brendan Gallagher, who was on his way to the net, down the left wing.
Charlie McAvoy took a nasty-looking high stick from Suzuki, which created a four-on-four situation. It was a double minor that was given to Suzuki, giving the Bruins just under three minutes of power play time, but they were unable to capitalize. After not much action to end the period, the game headed to overtime tied 1-1. Only 0:24 into overtime, the Bruins won it on a two-on-one with Marchand feeding a cross-ice pass to DeBrusk, who finished it on a forehand to backhand move, sealing a 2-1 victory.
Up Next
Next, the Bruins return home and will host the pesky Philadelphia Flyers at TD Garden on Saturday night. It will be the night before St. Patrick’s Day and a 7:00 p.m. puck drop. The game will be the second of three meetings between the two teams. The Bruins won the first one 6-2.
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