Just two days before Christmas, the slumping Bruins delivered a heaping helping of coal in your stocking.
The B’s allowed four Montreal goals in the third period en route to a convincing 6-2 loss, the fourth
in a row for the home team.
It was a 2-2 game at the start of the third period, with the two teams trading chances until about midway through, when the wheels fell off for the Bruins.
The Canadiens took a 3-2 lead when a broken Nikita Zadorov stick led to a Zachary Bolduc goal; things got worse when the B’s challenged the goal, lost the challenge, then took another penalty, then…yeah.
Good times!
Marat Khusnutdinov and Alex Steeves scored the goals for the Bruins, who dropped down t0 6th in the Atlantic with the loss.
Sammy Blais got the scoring started with a bad angle shot midway through the first, making it 1-0 Canadiens. Jeremy Swayman would probably like that one back.
Khusnutdinov tied the game just over a minute later off of a great Mason Lohrei pass, making it a 1-1 game.
The Bruins took the lead with just 18 seconds left in the first when Steeves wired a wrister for a PPG, making it 2-1 Bruins.
In a sign of the comedy of errors to come, miscommunication between Zadorov and Pastrnak led to an Ivan Demidov breakaway, and…yeah. 2-2 game.
The Bruins appeared to take the lead with under ten seconds left in the second period, only to have the goal waved off for goalie interference. You be the judge:
After that…nothing good. Shades of the Carolina game last season as Zadorov’s stick breaks and the puck ends up in the Bruins’ net. 3-2 Montreal.
The Bruins would end up with a delay of game penalty for losing that challenge, only for Tanner Jeannot to take a cross-checking penalty shortly thereafter.
The Habs had a stick-break go their way again, as a broken stick turned into a perfect pass to Cole Caufield, who, to quote Jack Edwards, put Jeremy Swayman in the torture chamber. 4-2 Montreal.
With Hampus Lindholm off for tripping, Montreal would score again with a two-man advantage, making it 5-2 Montreal.
Mon dieu. Stop the fight! Juraj Slafkovsky would score a couple of minutes later to add insult to injury.
6-2, Bruins lose.
Game notes
- Yikes! Where to begin? The Bruins needed a bounce-back effort to stop the bleeding after some weak showings against Vancouver and Ottawa. They certainly didn’t get it tonight (at least not for the full 60 minutes).
- Marco Sturm has pushed the right buttons plenty of times this season, but the decision to challenge the Bolduc goal was a bad one. There was minimal contact from Nick Suzuki, and it’d be a significant stretch to claim it prevented him from stopping the puck on the follow-up. It’s unfair to blame that challenge for the resulting carnage, but it certainly didn’t help.
- To add to that point, Sturm would have been better off challenging the non-goal at the end of the second. It’s hard to have those calls overturned when they’re “no goal” on the ice, but in that case, even if you lose, you have a chance to reset during the intermission and come out fresh on the PK. Instead…yeah.
- Lane Hutson and Noah Dobson both had three-point nights for Montreal, with each recording three assists.
- Similar to the game in Montreal, the Bruins handed the Habs a whopping seven power plays tonight. Their PK bailed them out in that game, killing all seven; tonight, they allowed two PPGs.
- If nothing else, this game added a little more fuel to the fire between these two teams, with a fight three seconds into the game (Jeannot vs. Josh Anderson), then another one midway through the first (Zadorov vs. Arber Xhekaj.
- Vladislav Kolyachonok skated 10:35 in his Bruins debut, lowest among Bruins defenders by far. The second lowest blue-liner, Lohrei, skated more than six minutes more than the Belarusian.
What else can you say? Ugly! That’s now four losses in a row and five of six for the Bruins.
While the Vancouver game was back-and-forth, the last two haven’t been particularly close when the buzzer sounded.
The B’s enter Christmas out of the playoff picture and just a point ahead of the Buffalo Sabres, who have won seven in a row.
After the Christmas break, the Bruins first game will be against those same Sabres, at what’s sure to be a charged arena in Buffalo.
Merry Christmas to all! Enjoy the holiday, or the Wednesday/Thursday if you don’t celebrate.
