BSJ Game Report: Canadiens 3, Bruins 0 - Tuukka Rask struggles early, B’s fail to generate quality looks

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 3-0 loss against the Montreal Canadiens in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Slow starts continue to plague Rask: The Habs did all of their damage off of a quick scoring barrage in the opening stanza Saturday, with Brendan Gallagher and Max Domi beating Tuukka Rask just 1:21 apart to give Boston’s archrival a lead it would not relinquish.

Both of Montreal’s tallies weren’t a good look for Rask in net, with Gallagher firing in a shot from an odd angle that sailed past Matt Grzelcyk and beat Rask short side off the tumbling attempt.

A defensive breakdown led to a round of scoring bids in the slot for the Habs just over a minute later, with Domi whiffing on his initial bid before firing one past Rask from his knees.

Rask has struggled so far to start this season, especially in the crucial opening minutes of a contest. Of the 17 goals that he’s allowed so far this year, seven have come in the first period — with five of those tallies coming within the first 11 minutes of play.

With Jaroslav Halak continuing to dominate as Boston’s No. 2 option in net, the pressure has to be on for Rask to right the ship and lock things down early in a tilt. The leash is getting shorter and shorter for the veteran goalie.

Bruins make things easy for Price: Even though Boston outshot, 33-23, and outchanced, 27-14, the Habs on Saturday night, the Bruins didn’t generate too many quality looks against Montreal goalie Carey Price, with only 10 of the team’s 27 chances being tabbed as “high-danger” opportunities.

Whether it be on the listless power play (0-for-3, 1 high-danger scoring chance) or poor shot selection, Price didn’t have to do too much even when the B’s were in Montreal’s zone, occasionally having to snag an offering with his glove while at other times absorbing one-timers into his chest protector.

Even though Boston possessed the puck for a majority of the final period (73.08 Corsi-For Percentage), the Bruins struggled at times to establish themselves in Montreal’s zone, with the Habs doing a fantastic job of using their speed to close in on puck carriers and disrupt feeds through the neutral zone.

TWO UP:

Ryan Donato: Bumped back up to the third line after primarily skating on a checking trio for the past week, Donato fared well with some added minutes Saturday, beating Price with a bullet of a wrist shot from the left circle midway through the second period.

While the goal was later taken after a challenge from the Habs bench revealed that the play was offside, it was a positive step for Donato, who has been mired in a slump since finding the back of the net in the second game of the season.

On the night, Donato led all Bruins skaters in even-strength Corsi-For percentage (CF%) at 68.75 to go along with two shots on goal through 13:45 TOI.

Nordstrom line: Donato wasn’t the lone impressive skater on his line, as the trio of Donato, Joakim Nordstrom and Anders Bjork posted a CF% of 70.00 over 7:57 of even-strength TOI on Saturday.

The Habs weren’t too explosive when it came to generating quality looks against the Bruins, but the Nordstrom line still limited Montreal to just two shots allowed during their TOI together. A step in the right direction for a line that has usually had to play catch-up so far this season.

THREE DOWN:

Tuukka Rask: We expanded on his night a bit in “Headlines”, but tonight was a major step backward for Rask, who impressed in his last outing against Ottawa (38 saves). Along with a pair of rough goals in the opening frame, Rask was called for a trip at 6:00 in the third period, negating a power play for the Bruins.

“I think today my puck play was horse(expletive) to begin with, bad choices,” Rask said. “ I don’t know if it was a penalty or not I didn’t feel like I really did anything there.  It was a penalty he came at me hard and I tried to shake him off there, I didn’t see any openings so I just laid in the corner because I didn’t want to let him get the empty netter and then there’s a penalty so tough play.”

Power Play: Already struggling to generate quality chances against Price, Boston wasn’t able to cash in on three stints on the power play — even though it fired six shots on goal. As noted earlier, Rask’s trip on Paul Byron negated one stretch on the man advantage, but even the usual suspects in Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand failed to settle the puck when they were in Montreal’s zone.

“I talked about winning battles, I think we were forcing some plays also from top to bottom,” Bergeron said. “Sometimes when the ice is behind them, you got to put it deep and go get and like I said win those battles, put the puck on net.  There’s a lot of things that we didn’t do, no traffic in front. Obviously, he’s a great goalie but I don’t think his job was very hard tonight.”

Krejci Line: After only allowing 15 shots through over 53 minutes of even-strength TOI entering Saturday’s matchup, the Krejci line surrendered five shots through 13 minutes of TOI on Saturday, with Krejci himself posting an EV CF% of 48.65 — last on the Black and Gold.

“Yeah, I think anytime, any game, I think I personally put pressure on myself to do anything and tonight it was very frustrating to say the least,” Jake DeBrusk said. “I think it was obviously a well-played game by them and it’s something that we’re going to have to watch the video and understand that in those games where it seems like no one is really clicking, we need to be a line that’s consistent and generating chances. I thought that we weren’t really getting through the neutral zone at all today very well and that hurts our forecheck and just a ripple down effect.”

LOOKING AHEAD

After closing out a two-game homestand, the Black and Gold will head back on the road next week, starting with a matchup against one of the biggest surprises in the Eastern Conference in the Carolina Hurricanes. The two clubs will face off on Tuesday, with puck drop set for 7:00 p.m. at PNC Arena.