How’s that for a statement win?
1st Period
The game started with a perfectly reasonable series of plays, both showcasing the skill of the competitors and the-I’m just f#!king with you it started with Jayden Struble
and Nikita Zadorov chuckin’ fists as the game started.
Pretty good little bout!
In fact, it was so good they had another one!
Anyway, the scoring started at 4-on-4, as the Bruins used the extra ice from a mutual roughing call to set up an extremely pretty passing play that ended with Marat Khusnutdinov putting a beautiful shot past Sam Montembeault! 1-0 Bruins!
Buuuut then the B’s near endless parade to the power play finally found a hitch; namely in Viktor Arvidsson bobbling a clear scoring chance and allowing Jake Evans to spring out for a short handed chance…
…which became a short-handed goal. Really can’t get too cute with those Habs, man. 1-1 Everybody.
What else happened in this period? Penalties. Some for slashing, a lot for roughing, one for holding the stick, you name it, the first period probably had it.
Finally, we come to the end of the initial frame, and the 2nd dawns.
2nd Period
I hope you were ready for more penalties, because the B’s and Habs sure were!
But before they got back into using the NHL Rulebook as a tissue, Mason Lohrei took a decent shot at Montembeault, and in the middle of Judd Sirott explaining that Montembeault doesn’t have great numbers against Boston, he got a fantastic example of why as he completely misjudged the shot which may have been deflected in, or simply became a sinker. 2-1 Bruins!
Then the penalties started back up again, which benefited Boston as their power play once again got the chance to redeem Viktor Arvidsson for his part in the Canadiens’ goal against. They didn’t squander it whatsoever, and this time Arvidsson was more than ready to score his 200th NHL Goal. 3-1 Bruins!
Happy 200, Arvy!
Of course, that couldn’t be the end of it all, as the Habs still have a goalscoring hobbit who is behind on his goalscoring after that Dallas game. Struble and Suzuki stretched out the ice for Cole Caufield, who should never be left unsupervised by anybody unless you’d like to be down a goal. 3-2 Bruins
No further scoring, and we head to the third.
3rd Period
It might shock you to learn, but the conga line to the box did not stop in the final frame.
The goalscoring did, though! Both sides failed to change the score any further, and the Bruins walked away from this game with a 3-2 Victory!
Game Notes
- Your TOI Leader was Hampus Lindholm, who logged 27:19 last night!
- This had everything you could ever want from an entertainment factor; goals, fights, shaky penalties, multiple dramatic penalty kills, weird scorin’, both goalies looking foolish and incredible…it was a fantastic hockey game all around. I’m sure people have said this, but it really is better for the league when Boston and Montreal are good at the same time. I just like it when Boston’s that little bit better.
- Speaking of penalties, let’s all stand and give a big round of applause to the Bruins penalty kill, who was a hard working unit all night and got plenty of opportunity to show it; killing all man advantages that the Habs were given, which included a number of 5-on-3 chances. Great stuff all around.
- Happy 200th goal there, Arvy! A great little sequence for him to achieve that milestone; and especially solid given that he was basically the trigger man for Pasta and Zacha, who were making sure he had pleeeenty of room.
- Another pretty okay Mason Lohrei game! Goal-For, wasn’t the direct reason they gave up any goals…That’s what we’re shooting for here with him.
- On a less positive note, the Bruins lost Charlie McAvoy fairly early into the second period after taking a slapshot to the face, which for starters…ow, and second, is not going to bode well if he’s out for any length of time. They got Carolina and the California road trip upcoming in the same week. We sincerely hope he’s doing okay and recovers quickly.
- Jeremy Swayman once again showed why betting on him is usually worth it; he was under less than optimal conditions for most of this game and came away with a .929 SV% on 28 shots. The Swayman “thing” of at least one or two goals against is still present, but it’s second part, where goal three becomes a herculean feat to try and obtain, is still alive and well. If the B’s can keep working that, then they can hopefully get his season SV% back up from hell where it was after the Ottawa game. No idea if it’ll do any rehab on his perception among fans, but hey; baby steps!
- Don’t wanna Jinx anything but David Pastrnak’s tied for 4th in the league in points. Was a big part of the power play being a torment nexus for the Habs. Might be a good player.
The B’s come back home on Monday, where they will be facing the other really good team in the Eastern Conference…the Carolina Hurricanes.
It’s gonna be a helluva test, so we hope to see you there!
