Bruins Live Blog: Canadiens Skate Away With 4-3 Win In Boston
Final, 4-3 Canadiens: The Bruins gave it their best effort, generating some sustained pressure with Rask on the bench, including a phenomenal rush by Seguin which ended in a dish across the goal mouth to nobody. There was also a mad scramble in front in the final seconds with Seguin's shot blocked just before time expired. But the Canadiens, who packed it in for much of the third period, are able to hang on for the win. The Canadiens pick up the two points to take the Eastern Conference lead. The end result wasn't what the Bruins wanted, but the fans got their money's worth tonight.
Third period, 3:46, 4-3 Canadiens: I thought that long snap shot by Marchand might be the game-tying goal, but Budaj made a nice save.
In other news, Pacioretty lay on the ice for about a minute after that whistle, in pain. Maybe he caught a Seidenberg stick or hand up high, or maybe he hit himself with his own stick. It was kind of hard to tell.
Third period, 7:00, 4-3 Canadiens: Atrociously missed call, as Emelin lifts a puck over the glass from his own end. The ref initially ruled it to be delay of game, but the linesman convinced him that the puck deflected off a Boston stick. Replay showed no Boston stick was near the puck. Live-action showed there was no Boston stick near the puck, for that matter. The Habs catch a big break there.
Third period, 10:43, 4-3 Canadiens: The Habs sure do know how to score in bunches, with David Desharnais scoring amid a wild scramble in front of the Bruins' net.
Pacioretty sent a puck wide past Rask on a rush, and Gallagher threw it back in front. Desharnais cleaned up the garbage and gave the Canadiens a 4-3 lead.
That 10-minute misconduct on Chara is looming large, as he remains in the box.
Third period, 14:25, 3-3: Once again, we have a tie game. Max Pacioretty found some space in the high slot, and with a screen in front, he sniped the top corner on Rask's glove side to knot the game at three goals apiece.
Third period, 15:11, 3-2 Bruins: The highlight of the opening five minutes was a thunderous hit by Shawn Thornton put on Subban behind the net. Thornton had dumped Galchenyuk into the corner earlier in the shift then stood up to Desharnais near the benches as he went off for a chance. Desharnais wisely opted not to fight.
Third period, 20:00, 3-2 Bruins: The third period is under way. The B's are 5-1-0 this season when leading after two periods.
End of second period, 3-2 Bruins: And ... exhale.
Things got pretty crazy at the end of the second period, and Chara's 10-minute misconduct is going to keep him off the ice for the first half of the third period. That's a huge loss for the Bruins.
However, Chara saw Emelin cross-check Seguin in the neutral zone, a cross-check which broke Emelin's stick, and he did what he felt he had to do.
Second period, 2:21, 3-2 Bruins: Chara ended up getting an instigator penalty for the fight, and the Canadiens nearly scored on the power play. Thanks to an incredible point-blank save from Rask on Gallgher, they didn't.
Second period, 4:15, 3-2: Well, the B's didn't get a penalty (they must've called roughing on McQuaid, though no word in the press box). Either way, less than a minute later, Zdeno Chara made amends for a perceived dirty hit by Alexei Emelin on Tyler Seguin by delivering a series of uppercuts to Emelin's face in a fight deep in the Montreal zone. (The hit didn't look that bad from here, but Chara absolutely punished Emelin with a series of uppercuts to the face. Ouch.)
Second period, 4:59, 3-2 Bruins: We finally see our first fight of the night, and that one was brewing for a while. After McQuaid got into a shoving match with Lars Eller after a whistle (Eller had been penalized on the play), Lucic and Brandon Prust dropped the gloves. It was a long fight without too many punches thrown, but both of them got their licks in.
The Bruins should be on the power play when play resumes.
Second period, 5:55, 3-2 Bruins: The Canadiens get nothing on their two-man advantage, and Adam McQuaid even managed to work a quasi-breakaway when he hopped out of the box. Things got dicey for Boston in the "vulnerable minute" (as Jack Edwards says), with Max Pacioretty firing a shot on net through a lot of traffic from the slot. Rask made a great play to come out of his crease and take up as much space as possible, and he made the pad save.
After the whistle, there were some extra-curriculars, with Ference and Brendan Gallagher engaging in a little tussle. Nothing came of it, but Gallgher is doing a good job of getting under the Bruins' skin tonight.
Second period, 8:09, 3-2 Bruins: The Bruins' lead is in danger, as Montreal will have 1:10 of 5-on-3 to work with here. Penalties to McQuaid for interference and Ference for cross-checking.
Second period, 10:33, 3-2 Bruins: Excellent work by Brad Marchand in the offensive zone sets up a fortuitous bounce that lands on the stick of Dougie Hamilton. The kid buried it from down low in the faceoff circle, and the Bruins now lead 3-2.
Pretty impressive stickwork from Hamilton on that one to be able to shoot the bouncing puck on net. It was Hamilton's second goal of the year and first ever on home ice. Keep that puck!
Second period, 12:07, 2-2: The Bruins' power play lasts all of five seconds. Lucic to the box for holding.
Second period, 12:13, 2-2: Things are heating up here at the Garden. After Subban laid a pretty solid hit on Marchand in the neutral zone, Marchand and Subban exchanged a few words and looked almost ready to throw down. Marchand looked to be the aggressor, and Subban looked to back off a bit.
Then less than a minute later, Lars Eller gets called for a cross check in front of the Boston net. The Bruins go back on the power play.
Of note: Desharnais rung iron earlier this period, and Bergeron nearly scored again after a nifty setup from Seguin. Bergeron likely could've gotten the goal if the kept the puck on his backhand, but he chose to go back to his forehand, and Budaj was there for the save.
Second period, 15:54, 2-2: We've got ourselves a tie game. Tyler Seguin carried the puck down the left wing into the zone with Patrice Bergeron on a 2-on-1. With nowhere to shoot, Seguin passed to Bergeron, who was standing at the right post.
Bergeron corralled the puck with his skates and it bled in front of the net. Andrei Markov ended up knocking the puck into his own net, but the Bruins will take that one.
Second period, 20:00, 2-1 Canadiens: The second period is under way.
First intermission, 2-1 Canadiens: A bit of housekeeping, as the goal originally credit to Pacioretty has now been given to David Desharnais. Replay showed the puck deflected off Johnny Boychuk's stick instead of Pacioretty's skate.
End of first period, 2-1 Canadiens: For the first time in history, the hundreds of fans in the balcony screaming "Shoooot!" on the power play turn out to have the right strategy, as the Bruins spend the final seconds of the period passing the puck around the offensive zone without sending anything toward net. Not a great showing for the power play, but they'll have 50 seconds to try to knot this game at 2-2 when the second period begins.
First period, 1:10, 2-1 Canadiens: The Bruins get their first power play of the night, as Brendan Gallagher goes to the box for charging. Interesting. The refs tonight aren't allowing for much contact in front of the net, as both penalties have been called in such circumstances.
First period, 2:25, 2-1 Canadiens: The goal-scoring barrage slowed down a bit, which was a positive development for those of us trying to document the action with words.
The Habs lead in shots 13-7, while the Bruins lead in posts (2). If posts counted, they'd be in good shape. As it is, they're still trailing. The crowd is as fired up as ever though, so let's see if they can tie this one up before intermission.
First period, 8:57, 2-1 Canadiens: The goal stands. It looked maybe like a kick, but it has to be definite in order to get a call reversed. It's 2-1 Montreal after a chaotic minute of play.
First period, 8:57, 2-1 Canadiens: This is getting a little out of hand. Max Pacioretty just scored the second Canadiens goal in a little over a minute, but it's under review. It looked like he kicked it.
First period, 9:13, 1-1: Well, that lead didn't last long. Brad Marchand chased down a puck in the offensive zone after a faceoff and passed back to Patrice Bergeron. He moved the puck over to Tyler Seguin, who buried his second goal of the weeekend. Tie game.
First period, 10:03, 1-0 Candiens: Andrew Ference goes to the box for interference, and just 21 seconds later, Tomas Plekanec scores on the power play.
The goal looked somewhat similar to Nathan Horton's from Thursday night, when he almost fully fanned on a shot in front but still managed to get it in the net. After a Saturday matinee for the Bruins in which special teams played a prominent role, the theme continues on Sunday night.
First period, 12:54, 0-0: The Canadiens are playing like they scored six goals last night, as they've already gotten five shots on Tuukka Rask (and a couple of other that went wide). Tuukka's been up to the task though.
The Bruins had a solid shift of their own in the Montreal end when the Bergeron line was on the ice. The puck ended up getting out to Zdeno Chara at the blue line. He skated toward the high slot and fired an absolute bomb toward the net, but it went wide. Nathan Horton had a chance to bang home a rebound, but he whiffed on his shot attempt.
Milan Lucic Had a solid hit on Francis Bouillon, and Shawn Thornton looked eager to throw his weight around, but other than that, there hasn't been too much in the way of physicality early on.
First period, 20:00: The Canadiens win the opening faceoff, and this one's under way.
7:38 p.m.: Natalie Hammond, the vice principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School, was honored tonight by the Bruins. She dropped the ceremonial first puck to a standing ovation from the Boston crowd in what was a moving moment here at the Garden.
7:33 p.m.: Just minutes from puck drop, and the starting lineups are in. Of note: Michael Ryder will start at right wing for Montreal. His announcement was met with equal parts boos and cheers. The hometown crowd undoubtedly won't forget what he did in the spring of 2011, but, well, he's wearing a Montreal sweater now, and nobody in a Montreal sweater gets a standing ovation in Boston.
The lineups:
Montreal
Travis Moen-Tomas Plekanec-Michael Ryder
Josh Gorges-P.K. Subban
Peter Pudaj
Boston
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin
Dougie Hamilton-Dennis Seidenberg
Tuukka Rask
7:18 p.m.: Chris Bourque will be the healthy scratch tonight. He's largely been a non-factor this year, and Jay Pandolfo will take his place on the fourth line tonight. Pandolfo was all right Saturday when he skated in place of Shawn Thornton, though he did get penalized for boarding. He did, however, log nearly 3 full minutes of short-handed time on ice.
That news, obviously, means that Thornton is back in the lineup. I'm not a betting man, but if I were, I would feel comfortable betting on No. 22 to make an impact in some way tonight. Using his fists is the safest bet.
7:15 p.m.: There's an extra level of excitement in the air at the TD Garden, which means only one thing -- the Montreal Canadiens are in town.
The two teams are on the ice for warmups now, and this one's just 25 minutes or so from starting.
Normally, the Bruins might have some trouble finding extra energy after an exhausting effort on Saturday afternoon, but with the Candiens in Boston, it won't be hard to let emotion fuel this one.
The Canadiens played last night as well, losing 7-6 in overtime to Pittsburgh last night. They'll no doubt be looking to clean everything up after a game that was so sloppy that Matt Cooke was able to score twice.
It's expected that Shawn Thornton returns to the lineup after being a healthy scratch yesterday, but confirmation should come soon.
