Halak, Bruins blank Montreal
MONTREAL — The Bruins slashed downhill Monday night like slalom skiers on Mont-Tremblant, whizzing through a bunch of Bleu, Blanc et Rouge wickets set up on the Bell Centre ice. Boston's 4-0 win was decided early, the Bruins mashing the pedal with scant pushback from their no-show hosts.
Joakim Nordstrom scored 2:21 into the first period, Colby Cave added another with 26 seconds left in the second, and both David Krejci and Brad Marchand scored in the third as the Bruins (18-12-4, 40 points) leapfrogged the Canadiens (17-12-5, 39 points) in the standings.
Jaroslav Halak made 20 saves.
Boston's caffeinated attacking was a perfect match for the Canadiens, who fought the puck all night.
Hard-charging and heavy, the Bruins were all over the Canadiens early. Nordstrom's fifth goal of the season, a give-and-go with David Backes in the high slot, came as the Bruins rolled all four lines with success. The Bruins moved the puck with purpose. They were strong along the walls. The Canadiens had trouble breaking out. They surrendered the puck to Boston 14 times in the first period, 11 in the first 10 minutes.
Boston gave it away once in the first period. The giveaways wound up 22-9, in Boston's favor.
Handed a power-play chance 35 seconds after the opening goal, when Marchand stick-tapped Phillip Danault on the helmet during a puck battle, Montreal managed two shots. Given another at 13:32 of the first, when Noel Acciari dumped the puck over the glass, they managed little. With Monday's game complete, they are on an 0-for-25 skid on the power play.
The Bruins couldn't make good on two man-up tries, which occurred late in the first (David Pastrnak drew a tripping call on Danault) and early in the second (too many men). They waited until it was 3-0 to get one, but they got one (Marchand).
The shots were 18-6 in Boston's favor midway through the second, the attempts 33-14, when Les Glorieux surged. Halak kicked aside a Paul Byron tip from the slot, gloved a Max Domi wrister, and thanked his left post for stopping a Kenny Agostino mini-breakaway.
Boston finished with a 34-20 shots edge.
Montreal had another power play chance at 11:57 of the second, when Pastrnak sent a soft breakout chip into Section 102. Boston killed it, and with the Canadiens out of sorts in the neutral zone, Pastrnak went in alone on Carey Price. He saved that, and flashed the glove on Torey Krug's rush moments later.
Through all this it remained a 1-0 game, until Cave scored his first NHL goal by finishing a brilliant high-low give-and-go with Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy.
The Bruins made it 3-0 just 46 seconds into the third.