BSJ Game Report: Bruins 3, Canadiens 2 (OT) - Marchand bounces back, lifts Boston past Habs in OT

Everything you need to know from the Bruins' 3-2 overtime win over the Canadiens, with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Marchand comes up clutch: It wasn’t exactly Brad Marchand’s strongest night at the office. 

Despite opening the scoring for Boston in the first period of play, a number of costly miscues and turnovers marred the winger’s performance on Monday night against the Habs — headlined by an errant pass on the power play in the third period that led to a Joel Armia shorthanded strike, and a 2-1 lead for Montreal.

But Boston’s top left winger redeemed himself in crunch time, beating Jake Allen with a nasty set of dangles to secure a 3-2 win for the Bruins in overtime. It was a rather frustrating evening at the Bell Centre for the Bruins, who spent most of the third period chasing the lead due to poor puck management.

But the Bruins will take the win, with Bruce Cassidy’s club now 12-2-1 in its last 15 games. 

Clifton fighting for his spot

The writing seems to be on the wall when it comes to Boston’s defensive depth chart moving forward.

With Hampus Lindholm slotting into the top-four unit and Josh Brown joining Boston as a depth pick-up, Connor Clifton’s playing time is far from a guarantee, especially with a puck-mover like Mike Reilly capable of playing the right side on the third D pairing next to Derek Forbort.

But Clifton offered a bit of a pushback on Monday night, with the defenseman picking a great time to score his first goal in 30 games — knotting things up with 2:59 left in regulation and forcing overtime with his second tally of the season.

Clifton still had his share of miscues as well, including on the sequence that led to a David Savard goal, but it’s a good problem to have if four capable blueliners are scrapping for those two spots on the third pairing. 

ONE UP

Jeremy Swayman: Boston likely wouldn’t have even been in a position to earn a point and force overtime if it wasn’t for Swayman, who made a couple of strong stops to keep things close. 

TWO “MEH”

Connor Clifton: Clifton had a nice play to keep a puck alive in the offensive zone seconds ahead of Marchand’s opening tally, but the B’s depth defenseman negated some of those good tidings by getting walked by noted offensive dynamo … *checks notes* David Savard in the second period — with the stay-at-home Habs defenseman beating Swayman with a nifty backhand shot.

However, he made up for it with his game-tying tally in the closing minutes of the third period. It still remains to be seen if his regular spot in the starting lineup is secure, but Clifton at least offered some pushback ahead of Lindholm and Brown’s arrival.  

Brad Marchand: Make it four goals for Marchand in the three games that Patrice Bergeron has missed with an upper-body injury. However, even with his recent scoring stretch, Marchand was knocked for some brutal turnovers in this one. One in the final seconds of the first period was negated by a great stop from Swayman. But his errant feed on the power play in the opening minutes of the third created a 2-on-0 shorthanded rush that Swayman had no chance to stop.

However, Marchand bounced back in a major way with his OT winner. You take the good with the bad in this situation. 

ONE DOWN

Power play: Unlike both Marchand and Clifton, it’s tough to spin a positive about Boston’s man advantage, which went 0-for-4 on the night and also coughed up a shorthanded tally. 

PLAY OF THE GAME

LOOSE PUCKS 

With his tallies, Marchand has now buried 346 goals in a B’s sweater, surpassing Cam Neely for sixth all-time in Bruins franchise history.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will now return to TD Garden for a five-game homestand — starting with an anticipated bout against the Lightning on Thursday night. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.