Bruins vs. Montreal: In-game updates
Final, Montreal 4, Boston 1
All over at the Garden, where the Bruins suffered a crushing loss to their rivals. It was a total collapse in the third, with Montreal scoring four unanswered goals to leapfrog past Boston in the Eastern standings. The Bruins still have not won in the Garden in 2010.
18:33-3rd – Montreal goal
Benoit Pouliot with the empty-netter to seal it
Pouliot (unassisted) (18:33) 4-1
17:30-3rd – Montreal goal
Metropolit strikes again, getting off a diving shot from the slot as he was getting tripped up by Ference; Rask made initial save, but Darche banged in the rebound at the right post
Darche from Metropolit, Pyatt (17:30) 3-1
5:42-3rd – Ryder a chance in front after Krejci steal to keep play in Montreal zone, but shot blocked in front without reaching net
7:24-3rd – Montreal goal
Travis Moen wins a battle for the puck with Andrew Ference in left circle, throws puck on net; Rask makes pad save, but Lapierre bangs in rebound at right post while Matt Hunwick stands idly by
Lapierre from Moen, Moore (7:24) 2-1
4:10-3rd – Montreal power play with Ryder off for holding; Bruins desperately need a kill here as Montreal is threatening to take control of game
2:40-3rd – Montreal goal
Mathieu Darche sent in a dump-in that Derek Morris played with a high-stick, Tom Pyatt gained control and drove down to the left corner, then sent out a centering pass to Glen Metropolit, who one-timed it in from the low slot; that’s ex-Bruin Metropolit’s fourth goal against Boston this year
Metropolit from Pyatt, Darche (2:40) 1-1
End second – Boston 1-0
- Bruins still clinging to their one-goal lead, but they had a few golden chances to pad that advantage; missing those could come back to haunt them in the third
- Rask still perfect through two, making eight more saves as Montreal holds a slim 18-17 edge in shots
- good to see a little hate in the second, but this one still doesn’t have the feel of a real Boston-Montreal rivalry game; who would have thought we’d miss Mike Komisarek so much? Montreal just doesn’t have the guys to get anyone riled up anymore; Lapierre is a pest, but everyone in the league knows he’ll never back it up when challenged so he doesn’t even really register any more
- Bruins getting killed in the face-off circle, winning just 37 percent of the draws as a team; Savard has been especially poor tonight, winning just 3 of 13 (23 percent), while Sobotka is 0 for 3; Bruins really miss Begeron in that department
16:35-2nd – Sturm with another bid in front, two whacks at it from top of the crease but puck goes wide
15:45-2nd – Marco Sturm gets shot from slot by Price, but old friend Hal Gill makes the save in the crease behind his goalie
15:17-2nd – Marc Savard in behind defense on partial break, denied on shot, but draws slashing penalty on Lapierre
10:11-2nd – scary moment for B’s; Wheeler overskates puck inside blue line, allowing Montreal to keep the puck in; Brian Gionta down low on left gets Rask way out of net and centers puck to slot, but Bruins able to clear it away
9:01-2nd – first sign of any nastiness with a post-whistle scrum in the Boston crease; Mark Stuart tangled up with agitator Maxim Lapierre and Andrew Ference shoving with Tomas Plekanec; face-washes all around but no penalties called
5:10-2nd – Bruins get another power-play chance, Jaroslav Spacek off for hooking
4:25-2nd – first of the insipid chants of “USA! USA!” from crowd breaks out; of course, no American players from Bruins actually on ice at the time; Montreal had Mass. native Hal Gill, Alaskan Scott Gomez and New York’s Brian Gionta out together shortly thereafter; time to give up the idiotic cheers folks
3:22-2nd – Benoit Pouliot delivers crushing hit on Dennis Wideman, sending Bruins d-man flat on his back in front of benches
1:09-2nd – Bruins kill off penalty; Boston had only shot in remaining 1:09 of power-play time in second on Daniel Paille bid from right side; Chara also pinched in for short-handed bid, but sent shot wide
End first – Boston 1-0
- Montreal finished period with a 10-7 edge in shots, but the Bruins carried the play after Sturm’s goal until the Habs’ late power play
- Tuukka Rask had a strong first frame, picking up where he left off before the break
- Krejci also turned in strong period, carrying over his Olympic showing, and he seems to have sparked linemates Ryder and Wheeler as well
19:08-1st – Montreal gets its first power-play chance after Vladimir Sobotka is sent off for slashing; big kill for Bruins to maintain momentum heading into intermission
13:48-1st – Bruins nearly double lead off great setup by Michael Ryder down left wing, pass across crease around sliding defenseman to Blake Wheeler, but Wheeler robbed at right post by Price toe save
12:11-1st – Boston goal
Zdeno Chara tees up blast from center of blue line that trickles through Price’s pads, Marco Sturm reaches over Price with one hand on stick and pushes puck over goal line
Sturm from Chara, Savard (12:11), pp 1-0
11:31-1st – Dominic Moore off for interference, Bruins get first power-play chance of the night
10:50-1st – Stuart goes for another big hit on Sergei Kostitsyn and comes up empty; looks like Stuart’s timing may be off in his first game back
10:07-1st – David Krejci with the nifty move through the Montreal zone, pass over to Michael Ryder on the left wing for shot; pad save Carey Price
8:30-1st – Milan Lucic with a big hit on Ryan O’Byrne along the boards in the Boston zone. Maybe Milan can find a new Habs sparring partner with Mike Komisarek gone.
5:52-1st – Montreal with the first legit chance, with Tom Pyatt sending in a testing shot from the left slot that Rask turns aside. The chance was created when Mark Stuart went for a big hit in the neutral zone and missed.
We’re under way at the Garden.
Good tempo to start, but not much in the way of solid scoring chances in the opening minutes.
Bruins lines are:
Paille-Savard-Recchi
Wheeler-Krejci-Ryder
Sturm-Sobotka-Satan
Lucic-Begin-Thornton
Defense pairs:
Chara-Wideman
Stuart-Morris
Ference-Hunwick
Tags: Canadiens
