The Boston Bruins on Tuesday put up a pretty good fight against rivals the Montreal Canadiens — for one period.
Boston’s Tanner Jeannot and Montreal’s Josh Anderson dropped the gloves at the opening faceoff, while another first-period fight helped set the tone for the Bruins, who had beaten Montreal eight of the previous 10 meetings.
However, after falling behind 2-1, the Canadiens scored five consecutive goals — four of them in a five-minute span in the third period — to win 6-2 and put some distance between the Original Six teams who are jockeying for position in the Eastern Conference standings.
Photo: AP
The Bruins lost the past four games on their home stand after winning five of their previous six. They have three days off before heading to a five-game road trip.
“We all recognized it was the last game before break — against the Habs, at the Garden,” forward Alex Steeves said. “We were down early, but we bounced back. Energy was good, and then it just got away from us.”
Five weeks after starting a fight from the opening faceoff in Montreal, the teams did it again. Jeannot, who has 53 goals and 435 penalty minutes in his career, and Anderson (154 and 582) fought for about a minute, while teammates on both benches banged their sticks against the boards in approval.
The Bruins forward landed several blows before his Canadiens counterpart went to the ice, drawing a big roar and a chant of “U-S-A” from the TD Garden crowd.
Midway through the first period, it happened again, with Boston’s Nikita Zadorov and Montreal’s Arber Xhekaj dropping their gloves off a faceoff in the Bruins’ end.
“It had everything to me: Guys winning fights, guys laying their body on the” line, forward David Pastrnak said. “It’s easy to get into the game when you have guys like this.”
In all, there were nine penalties for 30 minutes in the first, with Boston taking a 2-1 lead on Steeves’ power-play goal with 18 seconds left in the period.
“It gives the whole building energy — not just us players,” Steeves said. “Some guys on the bench just said it was the loudest we’ve heard the building. So it’s awesome. Those guys lay their bodies on the line every night. It’s up to us as a team to galvanize around that and really use that.”
However, the penalties in the third period were costly, with the Canadiens twice capitalizing on five-on-three advantages to pull away. Montreal ended the night with 45 points, four more than Boston and good for third in the Eastern Conference; the Bruins were out of playoff position.
“I still can’t believe that the game actually ended 2-6,” Bruins coach Marco Sturm said. “Even after the first period, guys came ready to play today. They were very excited.”
The Bruins 3-2 win in Montreal on Nov. 15 also featured several scuffles, including a fight at the opening faceoff. The bigger problem for the Bruins had nothing to do with the fisticuffs: Star defenseman Charlie McAvoy was hit in the face by a slap shot, causing him to miss almost a month.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, a Leon Draisaitl hat-trick helped the Edmonton Oilers burn the Calgary Flames 5-1, while the Buffalo Sabres survived the Ottawa Senators 3-2 in overtime to extend their winning streak to seven.
The Nashville Predators outplayed the Minnesota Wild 3-2 in overtime, the Detroit Red Wings bested the Dallas Stars 4-3 in overtime, the Vegas Golden Knights dominated the San Jose Sharks 7-2, the New York Islanders pipped the New Jersey Devils 2-1 and the Florida Panthers knocked the wind out of the Carolina Hurricanes for a 5-2 win.
The New York Rangers stormed past the Washington Capitals 7-3, the Toronto Maple Leafs iced the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3, the Philadelphia Flyers downed the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1, the surging Colorado Avalanche blanked the Utah Mammoth 1-0 and the Seattle Kraken sank the Los Angeles Kings 3-2.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with Reuters
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