BOSTON -- Maybe it’s not so bad that the Bruins’ 2018-19 series against the Canadiens is over with almost half of the season still ahead.
At least it will keep the Habs, who are chasing the third-place Bruins in the Atlantic Division, from coming to TD Garden and taking two points out of it.
The Canadiens beat the Bruins in overtime on Monday night, 3-2, to earn a split of the four-game series. Neither team won a home game. [...]
BOSTON -- Maybe it’s not so bad that the Bruins’ 2018-19 series against the Canadiens is over with almost half of the season still ahead.
At least it will keep the Habs, who are chasing the third-place Bruins in the Atlantic Division, from coming to TD Garden and taking two points out of it.
The Canadiens beat the Bruins in overtime on Monday night, 3-2, to earn a split of the four-game series. Neither team won a home game.
The Bruins forced overtime with just 37.6 seconds left in regulation, when David Krejci scored a power play goal. The Habs’ only needed 15 seconds to score in OT, with Jeff Petry knocking a loose puck out of the air past Tuukka Rask (19 saves)
Carey Price made 41 saves for the Canadiens. Rask, who had won five starts in a row, could have tied Tiny Thompson for all-time franchise record for victories.
Although the Bruins had an 11-6 edge in shots and were even on the scoreboard, 1-1, after 20 minutes, B’s coach Bruce Cassidy made a change in the second period. David Krejci and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, centers on lines that had managed just a single shot attempt apiece in the first period, were flipped. Krejci ended up between Danton Heinen and Ryan Donato; Forsbacka Karlsson centered Jake DeBrusk and David Backes.
The move didn’t help the Bruins score in the middle frame, and they fell behind when they allowed their 10th shorthanded goal of the season. Patrice Bergeron, with no support behind him, was unable to control a puck after it left the offensive zone, and Paul Byron passed him for a semi-breakaway that he finished with a rising backhander as he cut to the front of the net. The goal came with 2:51 left in the period.
It had taken the Bruins better than half the first period -- including a power-play opportunity -- before they were able to generate a decent scoring threat against Price. It came with 8:28 to go, after Patrice Bergeron broke up multiple attempts by the Canadiens to advance the puck through the neutral zone.
Bergeron was finally able to nudge the puck forward to David Pastrnak (300th career game), who was behind the Canadiens defense and had Brad Marchand on his left. Pastrnak fed Marchand for a short breakaway chance, which Price stopped with his right pad and blocker. A subsequent chance on a 2-on-2 break saw Marchand put a shot into Price’s midsection from the left circle.
Matching penalties called at 13:46 -- the Bruins’ Chara for interference, Jesperi Kotkaniemi of the Canadiens for tripping Charlie McAvoy -- helped the B’s take a lead. Bergeron took a pass from Matt Grzelcyk and fed Marchand on a 2-on-2 rush, and this time, Marchand’s shot from the circle was perfect: It got past Price’s glove to the top corner at 14:09 for Marchand’s 17th goal of the season.
There was a whiff of controversy on the Habs’ tying goal. Bergeron and the B’s were upset when Bergeron was thrown out of the circle on a defensive zone faceoff, and with justification: Philip Danault, who won seven of 10 draws in the first period, beat Marchand cleanly, and Jeff Petry’s shot from the left point was deflected past Rask with 1:13 left in the period.
The Bruins outshot the Habs 11-6 in the first period, which was marked at 16:10 by a long, spirited fight between the Bruins’ Kevan Miller and Nicolas Deslauriers.