Final: Montreal 3, Boston 2

One step forward, one step back. The Bruins’ season continued its disconcerting pattern as Boston couldn’t build off Thursday’s win in Philadelphia, instead falling to the hated Habs for the fifth time in six meetings this year. The loss leaves the Bruins in eighth place in the East, but they now trail both Montreal and Philadelphia by four points, while the Rangers sit just three points back and Tampa Bay is within four points.

Records: Boston 30-25-12, 72 points; Montreal 35-29-6, 76 points

Revisiting the Three Keys for the B’s:

1. Sturm set for a streak – Marco Sturm came in with five points in his last three games, but his drive toward another of his patented hot streaks was halted by the Habs, as Sturm failed to record a point in this one. He came within an inch of tying the game with 4:25 left, but was robbed on a point-blank bid.

2. Special showdown – Montreal’s second-ranked power play had the better of Boston’s top-ranked penalty kill in this one, as the Canadiens scored once on three power-play chances with seven total shots. The Bruins were 0 for 3 with the man-advantage with just two shots, while Montreal scored its other two goals within a minute of Boston power plays expiring.

3. Derail Metro – Former Bruin Glen Metropolit had scored goals in each of Montreal’s four previous wins over the Bruins this year, with 4-2-6 totals overall in five games against Boston. The Bruins finally shut him down tonight, as he was a minus-1 with no points and no shots in 11:11, but it still wasn’t enough to beat the Habs.

Key Play of the Game:

The Bruins probably didn’t deserve a point in this one, but they still came within about an inch of having a shot at one. Trailing 3-2 with 4:25 to play, Boston’s new top line of Patrice Bergeron, Sturm and Mark Recchi nearly connected with the tying goal. Bergeron started the play with a pass out from the right boards to Sturm, who worked a give-and-go with Recchi, only to be denied by a Jaroslav Halak pad save at the right post.

Fight Card:

It was another fight-less night between the ancient rivals, though there was some nastiness. Milan Lucic took exception to a late hit by Andrei Kostitsyn and popped him with a gloved punch in the face. Zdeno Chara also got tangled with Kostitsyn in a shoving match, while a late scrum featured Sturm and Andrei Markov wrestling around, with Dennis Wideman and Ryan O’Byrne later mixing it up. Lucic also had some words with O’Byrne in the first, and took off the visor protecting his broken nose between periods. That indicated that Lucic may have wanted to go later in the game, but nothing escalated to that point.

Flynn’s Finest:

Lucic had one of his better games, scoring Boston’s second goal on a nice play coming off the right boards and ripping a wrister from the high slot. He was a plus-1 and added three hits. He did negate a power play when he went back after Kostitsyn, but it was nice to see a Bruin responding to a cheap hit for a change. … Brad Marchand was a plus-1 with three shots, providing plenty of energy and screening Halak on Lucic’s goal. Miroslav Satan was starting to come around before he got hurt, but the Bruins might be better served keeping the high-tempo line of Lucic, Marchand and Vladimir Sobotka (assist, plus-1, 2 hits) together. … Must be something about Montreal that gets Blake Wheeler to actually use his size. The last game here saw him drop the gloves for the first time in his career. Tonight, he led the Bruins with six hits and was throwing his weight around all night. He also scored Boston’s first goal, driving the net hard to put home Michael Ryder’s backhand pass.

Flynn’s Sin Bin:

Tuukka Rask made 24 saves, several of them stellar stops to keep the Bruins in the game. But he also misplayed a dump-in that allowed Sergei Kostitsyn to put the puck into an empty net with what proved the game-winning goal. … Matt Hunwick continued his rocky season with another rough night, finishing minus-1 in 16:51. Has the Bruins medical staff checked yet to see if he’s actually allergic to the puck? Hunwick was only changed officially with one giveaway, but his miscues led to at least two third-period bids by the Canadiens. Mathieu Darche had a chance after Hunwick misplayed the play, then Tom Pyatt was denied on a point-blank shot after Hunwick gave away the puck trying to pass it out around behind his own net. Hunwick shouldn’t remain in the lineup once Andrew Ference is ready to return from his groin injury. … Chara was a plus-1 in 23:27, but also had a team-high three giveaways, including one in the opening minute that nearly led to a goal when Benoit Pouliot hit the post after pouncing on the puck. Chara had just one shot on net, while six other attempts were blocked and another missed the net. … Wideman hasn’t done much with a stick in his hand this year, but playing without one probably isn’t the answer. He broke two sticks and lost another late in the game. Wideman finished a minus-1 in 23:10. … The fourth line of Steve Begin, Shawn Thornton and Daniel Paille finished a combined minus-6 as they were on the ice for both Montreal even-strength goals.

Next: The Bruins continue their seven-game road trip at New Jersey on Monday.

Down on the Farm: It was a bad day all around for the Bruins, as Providence fell further behind in the race for the final playoff spot in the East with a 4-0 loss at Adirondack in AHL action. Kevin Regan (South Boston, Mass.) made 28 saves on 31 shots as the Bruins fell to seventh place in the Atlantic Division with a 31-32-3-1 record. They host Binghamton tomorrow.

Matchup: Boston Bruins at Montreal Canadiens, 7 p.m. (NESN; 98.5 FM)

Records: Boston 30-24-12, 72 points; Montreal 34-29-6, 74 points

Past History: After going 5-0-1 against Montreal last season and sweeping the Habs in the playoffs last spring, the Bruins have had the tables turned this year with Montreal winning the four of the first five meetings. Montreal won 2-1 in a shootout in Boston on Nov. 5, 5-1 in a blowout in Montreal on Dec. 4 and 3-2 in a shootout Feb. 4 in Boston. The Bruins finally ended that streak with a 3-0 win at Montreal on Feb. 7, but the Habs took a 4-1 win at the Garden with four third-period goals on March 2. All-time, the Bruins trail their rivals 263-332-103-6 overall, and 102-200-47-2 in Montreal.

Bruins Connections: Defenseman Hal Gill spent the first eight seasons of his career in Boston, while fellow blueliner Paul Mara was here for less than one season, playing 59 games in 2006-07 before being dealt for Aaron Ward. Forward Glen Metropolit resurrected his career in Boston in 2007-08, and has 15-13-28 totals in 63 games this year in Montreal.

New England Ties: Gill hails from Bolton, Mass. and played at Providence College, while Mara is from Belmont, Mass. Max Pacioretty (New Canaan, Conn.) had 3-11-14 totals in 52 games with the Habs, but was assigned to Hamilton (AHL) on Jan. 24. Brian Gionta played at Boston College and mid-season addition Dominic Moore was a Harvard man before turning pro.

Injury Update: The Canadiens are without leading goal-scorer Michael Cammalleri, who is still out with a knee injury. That’s good news for the Bruins, as Cammalleri scored a natural hat trick against them in December and had the only goal in the shootout on Nov. 5. Marc-Andre Bergeron also remains out with a knee injury, but Mara, who has missed the last 17 games with an upper-body injury, has resumed practicing and could return in this one. The Canadiens will also get agitator Maxim Lapierre back after serving a four-game suspension for a hit from behind on the Sharks’ Scott Nichol. Imagine that, a dirty hit that actually got punished by the league, who would have thought that was possible? The Bruins will be without Marc Savard (concussion), likely for the rest of the season, and Andrew Ference (groin), while Miroslav Satan is questionable with a goin injury.

Fight Card: There were no fights in the first three meetings, which is unusual in this rivalry, as last year’s series produced six fights, plus two more in the playoffs. Even more unusual was the lone fight in the fourth game before the break, as Blake Wheeler dropped the gloves for the first time in his pro career against Ryan O’Byrne, albeit in a brief and uneventful scrap. The clubs resumed their peaceful ways on March 2. The Habs have just 30 fighting majors and sent home enforcer Georges Laraque for the season. That leaves O’Byrne (6 fights) and Travis Moen (5 fights) as their most physical players. The Bruins have 40 fighting majors, led by Shawn Thornton’s 17.

Matchup to Watch: Patrice Bergeron vs. Scott Gomez. Bergeron grew up in Quebec, but as a Nordiques fan, so his hatred of the Habs was in place long before he came to Boston. He’s enjoyed sticking it to Montreal whenever possible, with 9-13-22 totals in 31 career games. Gomez hails from Alaska, but is winning over Montreal fans with 50 points in 65 games this year, and 29 points in 38 games against the Bruins won’t hurt that cause. Both players are currently centering red-hot lines, with the combo of Gomez, Benoit Pouliot and Brian Gionta combining for 9-11-20 totals in the six games since the Olympic break, led by Gomez’s eight points. Bergeron has teamed with Marco Sturm and Mark Recchi to put up 6-7-13 totals in the last two games, with Bergeron accounting for five of those points.

Three Keys for the B’s:

1. Sturm set for a streak – Marco Sturm is one of the streakiest scorers in the NHL. That’s great when he’s on one of his scoring binges. Not so good when he’s colder than the ice he’s skating on. The good news for the Bruins is that he’s heating up again, and at a time when the Bruins need his scoring more than ever with Savard out. Sturm has 2-3-5 totals in his last three games and three goals in his last two games against Montreal. Boston needs him to add to those numbers tonight.

2. Special showdown – The matchup between the Canadiens’ second-ranked power play (50-214, 23.4 percent) and Boston’s top-ranked penalty kill (32-228, 86.0 percent) could determine the outcome in this one. The Habs are lethal with the man-advantage, but have also had the fewest power-play opportunities in the NHL this year, while surrendering the fourth-most chances to opponents. The Bruins have the second fewest power-play chances and haven’t done much with them (40-215, 18.6 percent).

3. Derail Metro – Former Bruin Metropolit has a career-high 15 goals this year, and much of that has come at the expense of his old club. Metropolit has 4-2-6 totals in his five games against the Bruins this season. He’s scored in all four Habs victories, with the only time he’s failed to register a goal coming when Tuukka Rask blanked Montreal in February.

The Lowdown: The Bruins put together a solid effort in Philadelphia on Thursday, snapping a two-game losing streak and regaining a bit of pride after their embarrassing lack of response to the cheap shot on Savard on Sunday and a sloppy showing in an overtime loss to the lowly Leafs on Tuesday. Now they face the Habs for the final time this year looking for a little redemption after losing four of the first five meetings. Montreal limped into the Olympic break having lost three of four, including a 3-0 defeat against Boston. But since NHL play resumed, Montreal has gone 5-1-0 and averaged four goals a game. The Bruins can’t match that, as they average an NHL-worst 2.31 goals a game and have lost their top playmaker in Savard. The Bruins have especially struggled to score against Montreal, particularly when Carey Price been in net. Price hasn’t stopped a lot of offenses this year (13-19-4, 2.82 GAA), but he’s allowed just one goal in each of his three starts against Boston, winning all three while stopping 102 of the 105 shots he’s faced (.971 save percentage). The Bruins can pull even with Montreal and possibly Philadelphia, which hosts Chicago this afternoon, with a win and further solidify their playoff chances, especially since they have three games in hand on the Habs. But before they can worry about winning those extra remaining games, they have to take care of business in this final head-to-head matchup.

BOSTON – The Bruins had everything going their way, dominating play and extending their lead to 2-0 on a Blake Wheeler goal.

Then in the span of 39 seconds it all came crumbling down. With Matt Hunwick off for hooking to give Montreal its fist power play of the night, ex-Bruin Glen Metropolit put Montreal on the board when he banged in the rebound of a Scott Gomez bid at 17:06.

On the very next shot Montreal put on goal, Roman Hamrlik sent a shot from the top left circle past Tuukka Rask as Mathieu Darche provided the screen in front. Suddenly, it was 2-2 at 17:45 and Boston’s fragile confidence was at a breaking point once again.

To their credit, the Bruins went right back on the attack and created several more chances before the end of the second, but they couldn’t cash in and now enter the third in a tie game knowing their blown a huge lead in a crucial game.

Wheeler’s score came at 5:25 when he popped in a shot from the left side down along the goal line. Linemates David Krejci and Michael Ryder picked up the assists on the play. Boston held a 19-6 edge in shots at that point and finished the period with a 32-14 advantage.

But it’s all even where it counts most – on the scoreboard. And the Bruins need to shake off the psychological damage from Montreal’s rally and come out with even more determination in the third to salvage this one and end their losing streak.

BOSTON – The Bruins have started strong once again, and just like Tuesday against Washington they go into the first intermission having controlled play for the first 20 minutes, but with just a 1-0 lead to show for it.

Now the key is whether they can continue this level of play and extend their lead. They weren’t able to do that against the Capitals, who rallied for four unanswered goals and a 4-1 win.

The Bruins took their lead on their third power-play chance in the first. Dennis Wideman took a return pass from Derek Morris and fired in a low hard shot toward the net with both David Krejci and Mark Recchi set up in front of the net. Recchi redirected it through Jaroslav Halak’s pads for the 1-0 lead at 15:48.

Prior to that, the Bruins hadn’t been able to get much going on the power play, managing just three shots on the three chances. They were better 5 on 5, posting an overall edge in shots of 15-5. They should have had a fourth power play as well, but a blatant Montreal too many men infraction was not called.

The captain has come to play in this one. Zdeno Chara has been all over the ice in the first. He made a diving save at the blue line to keep the puck in on the first power play, threw a big hit on Ben Maxwell behind the Bruin net and even challenged Ryan O’Byrne after a whistle. O’Byrne didn’t take up the offer, but with the linesmen hovering nearby it’s unlikely they would have gone anyway. Chara then had words with Travis Moen on the bench during the ensuing TV timeout. Good to see some passion from Chara in this one. That’s been far too rare this season.

Wideman’s also having a nice period. In addition to the primary assist on the goal, he leveled Brian Gionta with a big hit in front of the Montreal bench. There hasn’t been much hitting (Montreal holds an 8-5 edge), but Wideman is the only Bruin with two hits so far.

The Bruins are rotating their defense pairs rather than play with consistent pairings. Wideman had been out with Chara and Morris as well as usual partner Matt Hunwick, and that may be helping to settle him down.