The Montreal Canadiens offense dried up Monday night as the Boston Bruins defeated them 2-1 in overtime Monday night at the Bell Centre. Despite the low score, it was one of the most entertaining games of the season with end to end action and highlight reel saves by Carey Price and Tuukka Rask. Coming into the game, Rask had allowed ten goals in his last three games while the Bruins offence had gone to sleep. Impressively, Rask was able to battle his Bell Centre demons and helped secure the two points for the Bruins. Austin Czarnik opened the scoring for the Bruins with just over a minute left in the second period. Paul Byron would tie the game at one apiece with under four minutes left in regulation to send the game to overtime. The drama ensued in extra time with each team trading chances and the Bruins having a goal called back due to goaltender interference. In the end, the Bruins took advantage of a tired Canadiens trio (Andrei Markov, Alex Radulov and Paul Byron) as Ryan Spooner scored the winning goal.
Puck props and flops:
Props:
Paul Byron - Despite being on the ice for the winning goal, Byron had a strong game and was the reason that the Canadiens were able to at least salvage one point against their division rival. Byron now has ten goals on the season and has been one of the most consistent forwards since the moment the puck first dropped in October. He is now two behind Max Pacioretty’s twelve for the Canadiens lead and three more than Brendan Gallagher and Tomas Plekanec combined! With the Las Vegas expansion looming in June 2017, few would have previously considered protecting Byron. Right now, the Canadiens cannot afford to lose him as there would be an excellent chance that he would be claimed.
Brendan Gallagher - With only one goal in 24 games, Gallagher is going through the worst slump of his career. However, he is still relentless and rarely ever takes a shift off. With a goal and six assists in his last ten games, Gallagher appears to be on the right track and seems to have found some chemistry on a blue collar line with Torrey Mitchell and Byron. His leadership on the ice has never wavered though and he stepped to fight Torey Krug in response to Krug’s hit on Andrew Shaw. The gloves do not need to be dropped every time there is a big hit but against the Bruins of all teams, the Canadiens needed to demonstrate some pushback.
Gallagher drills Krug and then throws him to the ice. pic.twitter.com/pD71y7ZGIb
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) December 13, 2016
Carey Price - It is easy to forget just how good Price is when the Canadiens lose a game. He nearly matched Rask save for save and the Canadiens needed him to do so as the offense was hitting a wall at the other end. In overtime, the Canadiens should have used Price as a second defenseman a little more as his puck handling and passing skills are too good to be ignored. Price will be counted on more than ever as the team does its best to survive the rash of injuries and there is little to suggest that he is not up to the task.
Flops:
The Canadiens power play - They went zero for five with the man advantage and it would have been an entirely different game has they been able to score during any of those opportunities. To give credit where credit is due, the Bruins do have the second best penalty kill in the league with a success rate of 87.9%. However, the power play looked like a mess and the Canadiens continued to have difficulty simply establishing themselves in the Bruins zone. It is perhaps here where Alex Galchenyuk is missed the most as he was able to help the controlled entries. Without him, the Canadiens need a new strategy. Something that associate coach Kirk Muller is sure to be working.
Canadiens overtime personnel - The coaches tried to overthink the start of overtime and instead of sending out their best and most offensive minded skaters, they decided to play defence and start Mitchell, Byron and Shea Weber. Andrei Markov has been outstanding this season but three on three overtime is simply not his cup of tea, especially when there are other options on the bench. Artturi Lehkonen has been outstanding since he returned from injury and deserved a shift in overtime.
Those that say the Canadiens/Bruins rivalry is reborn - No, it is not reborn. The Canadiens/Bruins rivalry has never gone away. Sure it has its peaks and valleys but make no mistake about it, these clubs do not like each other and they never will. It does not matter if there is no Milan Lucic and Shawn Thornton on the Bruins. Just like it does not matter that Dale Weise and P.K. Subban are no longer on the Canadiens. The faces will change but the rivalry will not. This game was everything that a Canadiens and Bruins game should be. Physical, fast and constant action. With any luck, the two teams will meet in the playoffs as there is nothing like a Canadiens/Bruins matchup in Springtime.
Neither here nor there:
The Krug / Shaw hit - The league has reviewed the hit and they will not be taking any disciplinary action against Krug. It is the right decision. In real time and even in slow motion the hit looks ugly and it always will when there is contact with the head. Shaw was bent low as he was reaching for the puck and Krug had already committed to the hit. In the NHL, these players have less than a nano second to react to the play. Mistakes will be made and I do not believe that Krug intended to be malicious and target Shaw’s head. If roles were reversed, I would say the same thing.
Andrew Shaw gets obliterated by Torey Krug pic.twitter.com/UHtWrE9lJ1
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) December 13, 2016
The Canadiens will next play a rare Friday night game at the Bell Centre as they host the San Jose Sharks before they head to Washington to take on the Capitals on Saturday. They will certainly have lots of time over the next few days to work on that powerplay…
Cheers and follow along! Follow @Jenbcutler