The Montreal Canadiens proved as soon as once more that they do pomp and circumstance higher than anybody.
But they don’t do hockey effectively sufficient proper now to drag off the form of comeback they had been aiming for on Sunday evening. On an evening when the Habs honored the late Guy Lafleur, the Bruins flashed their present superiority after which held on for a 5-3 victory over the Canadiens on the energy of two objectives every from Erik Haula and Patrice Bergeron.
The Canadiens scored twice within the third interval to creep to inside a aim after the B’s had taken a 4-1 lead within the second, however Bergeron buried his second of the sport into an empty web to seal it.
The night started in highly-emotional vogue. In the primary Canadiens sport on the Bell Centre for the reason that demise of Lafleur on Friday, the group and its followers gave a becoming tribute to the Habs legend. A ten-minute ovation – matching Lafleur’s No. 10 sweater – and a video montage set to Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” gave method to chants of “Guy!” and the acquainted strains of “Ole! Ole! Ole!” from the devoted.
“It was really incredible,” mentioned Haula. “I’ve never been a part of a tribute like that. Obviously a very special player, person in this community and the hockey world. We were fortunate to be a part of it.”
It was spine-tingling stuff and, in that second, it felt just like the Bruins would have a troublesome time on this constructing on this evening. But the B’s got here out flying, outshooting the Habs 17-9 and taking a 2-0 lead within the first interval, albeit it in fairly weird vogue.
An important effort by Brad Marchand helped the B’s get on the board at 15:03. While he’s had bother scoring objectives currently – he took a 10-game streak and not using a aim into the sport – he’s proven some indicators out of breaking out of the hunch.
On the aim, Marchand first slipped by Jeff Petry with a pleasant transfer on the left wing after which fought by means of Petry’s test behind the online. He misplaced the puck briefly, however reclaimed it from Cole Caulfield earlier than allotting entrance to Jake DeBrusk. DeBrusk was robbed by Sam Montembault, however the rebound went to Patrice Bergeron, who potted his twenty first of the season.
Then the B’s obtained the massive break. Haula stole the puck on the Boston blue line from Mike Hoffman to move out on a partial breakaway. Hoffman caught as much as him and appeared to make a superb defensive play, however was referred to as for a slash. Haula was surprisingly awarded a penalty shot.
On the freebie, Haula really overskated the puck and had to return to gather it, which he did. On the do-over, he snapped his sixteenth of the season previous Montembault. As everybody within the constructing appeared to surprise what simply occurred, video proof confirmed that Haula utterly whiffed with out touching the puck, permitting him to return and get it.
At the time, he wasn’t positive the foundations had been in his favor.
“Honestly, I was so flustered after that happened, I didn’t really know what was going on,” mentioned Haula. “Then it was so loud that I didn’t know if the refs blew it or not. I just grabbed the puck and was like ‘Alright, I guess I’ll take it down.’ Thank God I scored, so we can move on quicker.”
Several years in the past, Marchand had an identical expertise in a shootout in Philadelphia, however he touched the puck on his muff and his probability was instantly nullified.
As the Habs followers grumbled, Haula bit down on his sweater to attempt to disguise his giggles.
“I had to bite my jersey because I didn’ know how to react to it myself. Guys were laughing,” mentioned Haula. “(Marchand) was hoping I touched it because he had done it before and he wasn’t going to be alone in that boat. But thankfully I didn’t and ended up scoring. But there were a lot of laughs.”
The B’s obtained themselves into bother late within the interval. Petry laid out Bergeron with a clear test, however Marchand didn’t prefer it and jumped Petry, incomes a roughing penalty. Then on the finish of the interval, Trent Frederic took an pointless unsportsmanlike penalty towards Petry.
They killed the 52 seconds of 5-on-3 time in the beginning the second, however Josh Anderson scored with 10 seconds left on the 5-on-4 at 1:51.
But Haula gave the B’s their two-goal lead again at 4:04, due to a tap-in alternative given to him by an important Tomas Nosek go.
There was a scary second when Laurent Dauphin drilled a crouching Taylor Hall alongside the boards. Hall was shaken up and and wanted some consideration from the coaching workers on the ice, however he was in a position to recuperate and saved on taking part in.
Then Charlie McAvoy gave the B’s a three-goal bulge at 18:09 along with his tenth aim of the season. At the tip of a 4-on-4, Bergeron gained a faceoff again to McAvoy and he merely snapped a long-distance wrister previous Montembault. It was the primary time since April 2 in Columbus that the B’s had scored greater than three objectives in a sport.
But the B’s let the Habs again within the contest within the third. Seconds after Marc McLaughlin took a delay of sport penalty, Mike Hoffman rifled a shot previous Jeremy Swayman at 3:13.
Then the B’s obtained actually sleepy. Mathieu Perrault gained a puck within the nook of the B’s zone throughout a change and Nick Suzuki was left on their lonesome within the slot to beat Swayman and get the Habs again to inside a aim with 12:41 left in regulation.
For a second, it felt just like the Montreal extraterrestrials had been at work. There was even a detailed name close to the Bruins bench when the B’s had been altering and there appeared to be just a few too many B’s on the ice. Lafleur, after all, scored maybe his most well-known aim in Game 7 of the 1979 semifinals to tie the sport late after the B’s took a too-many-men penalty.
“Hey, wouldn’t that have been something, huh?” mentioned coach Bruce Cassidy, who was a 14-year-old diehard Bruins’ fan when Lafleur scored that aim. “The ghost of Guy getting us.”
But the officers’ arms stayed down, they performed on, and one other son of Quebec lastly salted it away with the empty-netter.
Source: www.bostonherald.com