The Boston Bruins ruined the return of former coach Claude Julien with a 4-1 victory over Montreal Canadiens Wednesday night at TD Garden.
The Bruins have earned points in 14 consecutive games with a 10-0-4 record in this span. Boston is also 43-18-9 in 70 games since Bruce Cassidy replaced Julien on Feb. 7, 2017. On Wednesday, the Bruins received goals from David Pastrnak, Ryan Spooner, Brad Marchand and David Krejci (empty-netter). Tuukka Rask finished with 21 saves and extends his career-best point streak to 15 games with a 13-0-2 record.
Pregame notes
Tonight's game marks the return of Claude Julien to TD Garden for the first time since the Boston Bruins fired him on Feb. 7, 2017. The Bruins defeated the Canadiens 4-3 in a shootout on Saturday at Bell Centre in Montreal. After tonight's game at TD Garden, the teams play again on Saturday in Montreal.
The Bruins are 24-10-8 for 56 points and sit second in the Atlantic Division, while the Canadiens are struggling with an 18-20-6 record for 42 points. Julien, who took over as coach of the Canadiens only a week after he was let go by the Bruins, admitted it was a bit strange walking into the building this morning. His family still lives in Boston.
Julien helped guide the Bruins to the 2011 Stanley Cup title and he still has strong connections with many of his former players.
“There was a bond that was built here with the players because what happened to us,” Julien said. “You don’t win a Cup and all of a sudden you disappear from each others lives – it’ll last forever.”
However, when puck drops tonight those friendships mean absolutely nothing.
“The on-ice stuff is two teams trying to beat each other to earn the two points," Julien said.
Since Bruce Cassidy took over behind the Bruins' bench, the team is 42-18-9 in 69 games since Julien was relieved of his duties.
McQuaid returns: Bruins veteran defenseman Adam McQuaid will likely return to the lineup tonight. Fellow blueliner Kevan Miller has been sick the last couple of days. He's missed the last 36 games since breaking his right fibula on Oct. 19. He's been cleared to play for the last two weeks, but since the team has been playing so well, McQuaid has basically been a healthy scratch. After the team's optional morning skate, Cassidy said McQuaid would be paired with Matt Grzelcyk, but during pregame warmups, McQuaid was reunited with longtime partner Torey Krug.
Updates: Forwards Jake DeBrusk and Noel Acciari, who both missed practice on Tuesday, will be in the lineup against the Canadiens.
Streaking: Boston has earned points in 13 consecutive games with a 9-0-4 record in this span. The Bruins have played well on home ice this season with a 14-5-4 record at TD Garden. Patrice Bergeron has six goals and three assists for nine points in his last six games. Brad Marchand has three goals and six assists for nine points in his last six games. David Pastrnak has two goals and four assists for six points in his last six games.
Masked man: Tuukka Rask is 15-8-4 with a 2.25 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage in 28 games this season. He owns an 8-15-3 record, a 2.52 GAA and a .914 SP in 27 career games against the Canadiens. Rask has a career-best 14-game point streak with a 12-0-2 record in this span.
Observations from the third period
- Julien pulls Carey Price and the Bruins' David Krejci scores the empty-netter to give Boston a 4-1 lead.
- Bruins have an opportunity to put this game away as they get another power play with a two-goal lead.
- Solid puck movement by the top power-play unit and it results in Brad Marchand's goal to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead. That's his 19th goal of the season.
- Holding onto a 2-1 lead with 17:19 remaining in the third period, the Bruins get a power play.
- Huge kill by the Bruins, especially for McQuaid.
- Montreal will have a 5-on-3 for 1:09.
- That's the first time I have ever seen a scramble for the puck in front of the net when the defending team didn't play the body at all. All five Canadiens were just swiping at the puck instead of moving bodies out.
- Ryan Spooner centers the puck through the crease and it ricochets off the skate of Montreal's Jonathan Drouin and beats Carey Price to give Boston a 2-1 lead.
- Charlie McAvoy uses his hand often to play the puck.
- With 55.8 seconds remaining, Noel Acciari hits the crossbar.
- In real time that looked offside to me. But there's no review and David Pastrnak ties it at 1-1.
- Brandon Carlo with his own strong play on the offensive blue line that leads to a faceoff.
- A Ray Bourque-esque play on the blue line by Charlie McAvoy.
- Canadiens pushing the pace early.
- Canadiens stretch the neutral zone, gain entry before Jakub Jerabek scores 31 seconds into the game to give Montreal a 1-0 lead.