The Bruins became the fastest team to reach the 80-point mark in NHL history, improving to a 38-5-4 record after a 4-2 win at the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.
47 games into as historic of a season as Boston has already had, the Bruins added another trademark win to their already impressive resume.
This year’s Habs aren’t anywhere close to the teams that gave the B’s headaches for decades from the days of the Original Six to the 2010s, but they still managed to put up quite a fight at the Bell Centre, hanging in it until the very end.
The Canadiens, depleted by a rash of injuries to some of their top players and in the midst of a rebuild, came into the night having won four of their last six, and managed to throw all they could at the Bruins. On the back of a red-hot Sam Montembeault (25 saves), Montreal stifled Boston early and had a chance to win right up until David Pastrnak’s empty-netter marked the first two-goal lead of either team throughout the game, sealing the victory.
It was another chapter in Boston’s guide on how to take over a game and close it out in the third period as they extended their winning streak to six.
“I think our depth [is why we’re always able to make adjustments]. Every line is going over the boards, and we’re playing a little simpler hockey,” Patrice Bergeron said in a postgame interview with NESN. “I think in the first period we were forcing plays, you know, sometimes it’s pretty, but on the road especially, you want to keep things simple and bring it on net. Tonight, once we started doing that, we got some good looks. [Montembeault] made some good saves. He kept them in the game many times, but we found a way.”
Bergeron gives Boston the lead with 2:55 to go pic.twitter.com/SPsex3k0Zp
— Patrick Donnelly (@PatDonn12) January 25, 2023
After trudging through most of the first half of the game, Boston’s stars came alive when it mattered most with Taylor Hall snapping his 16-game drought to tie it in the second, David Krejci (one goal, one assist) giving the Bruins the lead in the third and Bergeron scoring the game-winner with under five minutes to go in regulation. Pastrnak came away with a goal and three assists to top it all.
“You know, it’s just their desire and will to be difference-makers,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said postgame on the broadcast. “They pride themselves on being go-to guys, and they’re definitely that for us. I don’t know where we’d be without them.”
The late surge came after tinkering from Montgomery, who reunited Bergeron and Brad Marchand with Pastrnak as well as Hall and Krejci on the second line early in the game. As it wore on, Montgomery kept switching up the lines in search of a spark, moving Craig Smith back to Bergeron’s right and Pastrnak back alongside Krejci on top of other swaps in the bottom-six forwards. It paid off, as three even-strength goals from the core group powered the third-period run.
“It was a classic rivalry game,” Montgomery said. “I thought the Canadiens played hard, and we had to fight for every inch. Typical Boston Bruins. The Spoked-B found a way, led by our captain. I thought Brad Marchand was incredible tonight, and obviously, the Czech Line came through with a couple of key goals for us.”
There isn’t much that hasn’t already been said about the 2022-23 edition of the Boston Bruins.
They’re on track to possibly become the best regular-season team of all time in the NHL, potentially shattering the record for wins (62) set by the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings and tied by the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning. Individual and team milestones have been plentiful this season, along with a number of wins that one could point to as a reason why this team might have “it.”
While the Canadiens (given where they are right now) may not have had much more to play for other than pride on Tuesday, they brought the best challenge they could for Boston, who overcame another test this season, even without their best performance.