(Boston) The Bruins hoped to bounce back in front of their fans after a poor performance on the road to start the campaign and they found their good habits against the Canadian, who played a second game in as many evenings in a different city.
Posted at 10:11 p.m.
Elias Lindholm and Cole Koepke each had a goal and two assists, Jeremy Swayman stopped 20 shots in his first start after a long contract dispute and the Bostonians defeated the Montreal hockey club 6-4 on Thursday in their game of local opening.
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Samuel Montembeault was imperious on Wednesday at the Bell Centre, stopping 48 shots to help the Habs start their campaign by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 1-0.
Cayden Primeau was less effective against a barrage of 29 Bruins shots, including 23 in the first 40 minutes of play. He was not helped either by his teammates, who often made errors in coverage in their territory .
“We know what we have to do (in defensive territory), but we just made mistakes tonight,” said Brendan Gallagher, author of two goals for the Canadian. You do that against good players and they don’t need a lot of time and space to score.
“We knew it wouldn’t be easy playing a second game in as many nights and playing against a very motivated team,” he added.
Cole Caufield and Josh Anderson also scored for the Canadian (1-1-0), who has only one victory in his last 15 games against the Bruins (1-12-2). Lane Hutson, Kaiden Guhle and Joel Armia each had two assists.
“They were simply better than us tonight during the 60 minutes,” summarized the Canadian head coach, Martin St-Louis.
David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist, while Mark Kastelic, twice, and Charlie McAvoy also scored for the Bruins (1-1-0), who rebounded from a 6-4 loss to to the Florida Panthers in their first outing this season. Nikita Zadorov and Brandon Carlo both had two assists.
Forward Oliver Kapanen played his first NHL game with the Canadian and he recorded an assist. He replaced Emil Heineman.
The Canadian will play their next game on Saturday, when they host the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre.
More convincing Bruins
Primeau was challenged from the opening moments of the match and made the save against a point-blank shot from Brad Marchand.
The Canadiens goaltender was beaten a little later, at 2:00, but St-Louis contested the Bruins’ goal on the power play. Replays confirmed that Justin Brazeau had bothered Primeau and Hampus Lindholm’s goal was canceled.
The Canadian opened the scoring at 8:26 when he found himself on the power play. Gallagher completed a nice passing game started by Hutson and Armia.
The Bruins responded by also scoring on the power play at 11:04. McAvoy surprised Primeau, who had his vision blurred.
The Canadian took the lead again 1:14 later. Caufield took advantage of plenty of time at the mouth of the net to push a puck sent by Guhle into the goal.
Once again, the Bruins quickly responded, tying the score 66 seconds later. Kastelic hit the mark with a precise shot that skimmed the crossbar before crossing the goal line.
The Bruins took the lead for the first time in the game with 1:37 left in the first period. Posted in the slot, Elias Lindholm deflected a Zadorov shot and the puck slipped through Primeau’s equipment.
The Canadian was bottled up in his territory at the start of the second period, but the Bruins were not able to immediately widen the gap.
Anderson had a great opportunity to level the odds while the Habs were outnumbered. However, he reached the post.
Nick Suzuki was also able to take a point-blank shot towards Swayman a little later, during a power play. The Bruins goalie, however, made the save with his glove.
The Bruins increased their grip on victory by scoring twice within a 55-second span late in the second period.
Pastrnak first registered his 350e career goal in the NHL thanks to a precise one-timer at 15:56. Koepke then took advantage of a comeback after a nice charge from John Beecher towards the Canadian’s net.
St-Louis mixed up their combinations in the third period hoping to create a spark and the decision paid off.
“As a coach, you follow your instincts. It worked a little. We had a surge,” St-Louis explained.
The Bruins initially squandered some good scoring chances when Charlie Coyle hit the post and Pavel Zacha was unable to shoot into an abandoned cage.
However, the Canadian then cut the lead to 5-3 with 10:55 remaining, when Anderson deflected a Guhle shot past Swayman.
Gallagher followed up with 4:17 left on the clock, scoring on a one-timer following a pass from Jake Evans.
The Bruins, however, restored their two-goal lead just 17 seconds later. Kastelic attempted a cross-ice pass and the puck deflected against Primeau’s stick before ending up in the goal.
“A goalkeeper is never happy to give away a goal, but the last one was particularly frustrating since we had just gotten back into the game,” admitted Primeau.
Despite a numerical advantage at the end of the match, the Canadian was unable to make the comeback.
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