Your Boston Bruins welcomed in the Montreal Canadiens to the Vault on Causeway tonight. The boys in Black and Gold were looking for a little payback from last Saturday’s loss up in Montreal where they had to take on the Habs and the officials. Tough to win in Montreal when you’re playing 5 against 9, but I digress. Old school vibes were rampant in the building as the organization welcomed in the Big Bad Bruins championship teams from 1970 and 1972 and allowed them the honor of raising those glorious gold Stanley Cup banners to the rafters.
The Bruins rolled in to this one with an overall record of 13-1-2 and a 5 point lead in the division. At the other end of the spectrum are Les Habitantes, who limped into this one with the 2nd worst record in the division and fully out of any playoff scenario you could imagine. If you’re jonesing for a more in-depth look at the team (and the NHL in general), make sure to check out our podcast which you can find right here. We break down all happenings around the league and bring our own unique brand of foolishness to the masses. We were just named the Official Hockey Podcast of the Holiday Season (not a big deal).
Jeremy Swayman got the start vs. Jake Allen in net for MTL. No word on the rumor that Sam Montembeault had the Swayman-flu and was nervous about suiting up against the young Bruins netminder. I mean, the kid’s an absolute beautician and I understand why Montembeault was nervous.
Both teams looked a little wooden for the first few minutes as the pre-game ceremony went longer than originally planned. The 4th line for the B’s got the opening draw and got a heavy forecheck going which would be a theme throughout this one. With about 8 minutes played, the B’s found themselves on the right side of a 5:3 power play (clearly not playing this one North of the border), and they cashed in. Charlie McCoy let one fly from the point that Allen still hasn’t seen. With great puck movement on the man-advantage Brad Marchand found McAvoy at the top of slot and Chuckie Bright Lights made no mistake putting this one over Allen’s blocker.
With less than a minute in the opening frame, Trent Frederic got his first of the night when he re-directed Brandon Carlo‘s point shot past Allen. Charlie Coyle went down the LW on an extended shift and found Carlo at the top of the umbrella. The big guy walked into this one and Freddy got a piece of it on the way by. 2-0 and this one was all but over already.
A huge play that might have gone by the wayside at the 4 min mark in the middle period as Swayman denied Alex Newhook from the doorstep (sorry Sway, the goalies don’t get the social media love like the goal scorers do). This was a crucial play as Newhook was standing at the top of the paint to Swayman’s left and if that one went it, you’re looking at a 2-1 game and MTL looking to crawl back into this one. Instead? Swayman shuts the door and almost immediately after Pavel Zacha put the B’s up by 3 as he and Hampus Lindholm played catch up high in the MTL zone before Zacha beat Allen from 30 feet. No one in front of the net for BOS and MTL had 4 players back in the zone. How’d that one go in you ask? The Hockey Gods reward hard work.
Juraj Slavkofsky got MTL on the board when his one-timer from 5 feet out beat Swayman (see how big that Newhook save is now??) but the B’s roared right back to up the lead to 3 goals again. Frederic came out of the penalty box and hopped right into the defensive play. As the puck got turned over in the B’s zone, Jake DeBrusk laid an outlet to Freddy flying the zone and the St. Louis native made no mistake barreling down the LW and beat Allen 5-hole to make it 4-1 with less than 5 mins to play in the 2nd period.
That score held into the later minutes of the 3rd as the Bruins were content to chip and chase and sag back on defense and let MTL skate the whole rink to get things going. Unfortunately you can readily see why MTL has the record they have as the team collectively rolled over and showed their bellies to the Bruins. With about 5 minutes gone, James van Riemsdyk got his 5th goal of the campaign as he tucked home a cross-crease pass from Marchand to hang the 5th on Allen. Another great possession on the power play and Marchy found JVR on the doorstep.
MTL got one back as the B’s were a little too focused on chasing around MTL players after a solid hit on Matt Poitras (maybe high with the elbow in my opinion), and lost their focus on defensive layers and gap control. Johnathan Kovacevic tucked home a loose puck that leaked through Swayman, but that play also could have been blown dead before the puck got to him. Glad it wasn’t a close game at that point.
The 4th line closed it out and the last 20 minutes featured a healthy dose of the bottom six. The B’s take off for a 2-game swing through FL (TBL on Mon and FLA on Wed) before coming home to take on DET in the traditional matinee the day after Thanksgiving.
Goalie Hug Incoming…
Just in case you didn’t see this video during the game broadcast, well worth the viewing.
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