Bruins Live Blog: Canadiens Skate Away With 6-5 Win After Marathon Shootout
Final, 6-5 Canadiens (shootout): It's all over. Here's how the shootout played out.
Tyler Seguin, Boston: NO GOAL. A bunch of dekes but Budaj stays put and makes a blocker-side save.
Alex Galchenyuk, Montreal: NO GOAL. Rask holds the post, and Galchenyuk hits it.
Patrice Bergeron, Boston: NO GOAL. Bergeron skates wide right and softly puts one on net. It goes wide.
David Descharnais, Montreal: NO GOAL. Descharnais knocks the puck in after colliding with Rask, but it's ruled no goal due to the contact with the goalie.
David Krejci, Boston: NO GOAL. Glove side. Save.
Lars Eller, Montreal: NO GOAL. Patience pays off for Rask. Blocker save.
Brad Marchand, Boston: NO GOAL. Budaj turns away a five-hole bid.
Michael Ryder, Montreal: NO GOAL. Ryder keeps his wrister in his back pocket and elects to go backhand. Rask hangs on for the save.
Nathan Horton, Boston: NO GOAL. Identical to Marchand's move. Glove side save.
Tomas Plekanec, Montreal: NO GOAL. Another slow move to the backhand. Save by Rask.
Rich Peverley, Boston: NO GOAL. Going in fast, Peverley pulls up and fires low blocker side. Save by Budaj.
Brendan Gallagher, Montreal: GOAL. Finally, it's over, as Gallagher puts one through Rask's five hole.
End of overtime, 5-5: Here comes a shootout.
The Bruins were able to get a couple of opportunities on the power play, but Chara's blast couldn't make it through traffic, and Krejci's bid as time nearly was expired was handled by Budaj.
Overtime, 1:20, 5-5: You have to really earn a penalty in overtime, and Alexei Emelin sure did there, hauling down Tyler Seguin to the ice in front of the Montreal net. The B's PP will have a chance to win it.
Overtime, 1:30, 5-5: As usual, a wild, end-to-end overtime period this far.
End of third period, 5-5: Wow, that's called a complete 60-minute effort for the Habs, who don't quit and are able to tie the game up with less than 10 seconds left.
Andrei Markov sent a shot toward net, and it looked like it deflected off Chara's stick as it was heading for Gallagher, who was in front for the tip. The goal was credited to Gallagher and this one's tied.
Third period, 1:27, 5-4 Bruins: That's just unfortunate. Aaron Johnson batted a puck out of the air and, accidentally, over the glass, sending the Canadiens to the power play in the game's final minutes.
Third period, 2:28, 5-4 Bruins: The B's kill the penalty, with Pandolfo making a great clearing effort and Rask making a nice glove save on Gallagher.
Third period, 4:49, 5-4 Bruins: The Canadiens are going back on the man advantage, and even better for them, it's Zdeno Chara who will be in the box for two minutes. The captain was none-too-please for getting the elbowing call on Colby Armstrong. He perhaps wanted a matching diving call -- it was hard to tell from up here. Regardless, the PK unit has to get it done now.
Third period, 7:42, 5-4 Bruins: Brendan Gallagher's shot deflected up off Dennis Seidenberg's face and then right back onto Gallagher's stick. He capitalized on Rask being way out of position (on account of playing the initial shot) and calmly put the puck into the net for a Montreal goal. The Canadiens now have four goals on 20 shots, and the Bruins' lead is back to just one goal.
Third period, 8:10, 5-3 Bruins: Holy moly, Tyler Seguin is a fast skater.
The kid just broke out of a standstill in the neutral zone to get behind three white jerseys. Marchand, who worked the puck from his own blue line through traffic and into the offensive end, passed to Seguin, who was flying down the slot. He deked to his backhand and flipped it over a sprawled-out Budaj for the Bruins' fifth goal of the night.
Third period, 9:14, 4-3 Bruins: That penalty wasn't killed; it was murdered. Gregory Campbell earns the gold star for creating a breakaway for himself and then getting back to break up a pass on what would have been a dangerous Montreal chance.
Third period, 11:42, 4-3 Bruins: The task gets tougher, as Dougie Hamilton goes to the box for holding. Sold nicely by Plekanec.
Third period, 16:02, 4-3 Bruins: Things got a whole lot tighter, thanks to old pal Michael Ryder.
A bad neutral zone play by Andrew Ference leads to Plekanec and Ryder on a 2-on-1. Plekanec fed it over to Ryder, who essentially had an open net to shoot into, and he buried his chance.
Third period, 20:00, 4-2 Bruins: Third period, under way, Habs on the power play. And ... Peter Budaj in net, in place of Carey Price.
Second intermission, 4-2 Bruins: Some nuggets for your intermission viewing, courtesy of Bruins PR.
Bergeron has nine points (5-4-9) in his last nine games.
The Bruins entered tonight 3-1-2 when falling behind 2-0 this season, and if they can close this out, they'll have themselves a mighty impressive record there.
The Bruins are 9-4-1 when leading after two. The Candiens are 2-6-1 when trailing after two.
End of second period, 4-2 Bruins: The B's head to the locker room to a roaring ovation from the crowd, and they certainly earned it. What a wild period.
Second period, 2:24, 4-2 Bruins: It's an onslaught now, as the Bruins score 35 seconds after the PP goal to take a commanding 4-2 lead.
David Krejci won a battle in the neutral zone and skated into the offensive end on a 2-on-1 with Nathan Horton. Krejci sent a beautiful saucer pass over to Horton, who fired it on net to give the Bruins a 4-2 lead. What a swing we've seen in the past minute, as the home crowd is now mercilessly chanting "CAR-EY."
Second period, 2:59, 3-2 Bruins: Three unanswered goals for the Bruins. Not bad.
This one came on the man advantage, as the PP unit (with Torey Krug on the ice) had some outstanding puck movement for more than a minute. Krug gets the assist, too.
Second period, 4:45, 2-2: Of all people to draw a penalty in the offensive end, Shawn Thornton gets it done.
With the fourth line going off for a line change, Thornton carried the puck into the zone looking to kill some time to allow the change to happen. He ended up getting great body position on Lars Eller, who wrapped his arm around Thornton's neck and tackled him to the ice. B's power play back at it, and perhaps this time they won't take a penalty of their own just seconds in.
Second period, 12:37, 2-2: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
It worked for Brad Marchand, who was all alone in front of the crease with the puck on his stick but missed high and wide with a backhand. The puck bounced off the glass and ended up on Marchand's forehand behind the net. He worked the angles to fire a shot off Price's backside, and it deflected into the net for the game-tying goal.
Great vision by Bergeron in the corner to get the puck to Marchand all alone in front.
Second period, 16:28, 2-1 Canadiens: The Bruins didn't take long to fight back, as Dougie Hamilton drills a wrister into the back of the net just seconds after Subban's goal.
The play started with Seguin hitting the post clean and Bergeron's bid at burying a loose puck getting knocked away. Seguin ended up being able to chip the puck to Hamilton in the high slot, and Dougie aimed and fired to get the Bruins on the board.
Second period, 17:07, 2-0 Canadiens: Bruins fans in attendance weren't too keen on P.K. Subban to begin with, and they certainly aren't huge fans right now. Not after the D-man unleashed a one-time bomb inside the top corner of the Boston net off a feed from Galchenyuk to give Montreal a 2-0 lead.
Rask never got a view of the shot due to traffic in front, but even if he had seen it, that missile would have been a tough one to stop.
Second period, 20:00, 1-0 Canadiens: The second period is under way, but first here are some first-period stats.
The B's led in hits 14-6, with Nathan Horton leading the B's with three. Seguin and Seidenberg have three shots each, accounting for 66 percent of Boston's nine shots. Last but not least, Krug has logged 1:12 of short-handed time on ice, as he was forced into action when both Chara and Hamilton were in the box.
End of first period, 1-0 Canadiens: The Bruins are able to get the rubber on net a lot toward the end of the period, ending the first with a 9-6 shot advantage, but Carey Price has been up to the task.
As has been the case with most Bruins-Canadiens games in recent years, watching the game feels like getting hung upside down and spun around for 90 seconds. So much happens, it's hard to keep track of it all. But the Bruins have clearly set out to lay the body, and the Canadiens have craftily picked their spots to respond. Andrei Markov has gotten into it with known heavyweights Tyler Seguin and David Krejci, while Lars Eller got into a shoving match with rookie Dougie Hamilton. Even Moen avoided danger by fighting Campbell instead of Thornton, and Subban managed to get under the skin of Marchand with the stick grab/embellish the high stick/fall to the ice move, which he's perfected over the years.
Just your standard Bruins-Canadiens game. Forty minutes to go!
First period, 2:59, 1-0 Canadiens: Neither team generates anything on the 4-on-4, and things remain pretty tense. Marchand had a potential breakaway coming out of the box, but it was broken up by Price, who came way out of his net to eliminate the opportunity.
First period, 5:14, 1-0 Canadiens: Never mind on that PP. Marchand goes to the box after Subban grabs his stick and falls to the ice. Crafty move by Subban and it negates a Bruins power play.
Needless to say, the home crowd is not too happy with the call, but what are you going to do?
First period, 5:37, 1-0 Canadiens: The Bruins' penalty kill did its job, and now the power play gets to work as Tyler Seguin gets hooked by Alex Glachenyuk off a neutral zone faceoff.
First period, 8:06, 1-0 Canadiens: And now, just seconds after the fight, Montreal goes on a power play. Chara for high-sticking, with Hamilton and Eller going off too for matching roughing calls. Interesting to see Dougie mix it up a bit.
First period, 8:22, 1-0 Canadiens: After Andrei Markov and David Krejci nearly come to blows in the Montreal end (yes, you read that right), Gregory Campbell and Travis Moen fight in front of the penalty boxes.
Earlier, Thornton seemed to give Moen a bit of a how-ya-doin, but it looks like Moen preferred going up against Campbell. Can't blame him there. Call the fight a draw, as it was stopped when both fighters looked gassed.
First period, 9:57, 1-0 Canadiens: Some more intrigue has been added to the evening, as Jarome Iginla will not be playing tonight for Calgary. At this point, with all these moves tonight, it'll be a disappointment if the big trade doesn't get done in the coming hours.
First period, 12:24, 1-0 Canadiens: We're in our first TV timeout of the night, and the Bruins still don't have a shot on net. Not exactly the type of start they hoped for.
The B's are leading the unofficial hits count at 9-2 thus far, so the lack of shots hasn't been for lack of effort.
First period, 15:45, 1-0 Canadiens: Before the Bruins even register a shot on net (or even really possess the puck at all in the offensive end), the Canadiens have a lead.
Tomas Plekanec weaved around the Boston net and through the offensive end before finding Michael Ryder all alone at the bottom of the left faceoff circle. Ryder took a moment to settle the puck and then fired his signature wrister right through Rask for the game's first goal.
First period, 20:00: The puck's been dropped, and this one's under way.
7:35 p.m.: And your starting lineups for Boston:
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton
Zdeno Chara-Dougie Hamilton
Tuukka Rask
7:31 p.m.: Here's the starting lineup for Montreal:
Michael Ryder-Tomas Plekanec-Brian Gionta
Alexei Emelin-Andrei Markov
Carey Price
7:27 p.m.: We're minutes away from puck drop, and Torey Krug will be playing tonight. Matt Bartkowski is the odd man out and, of course, Boychuk is out as well. That's three straight missed games for Boychuk.
Let's see what Krug can do with the big club this year. He arrives at an interesting time in that the D-men -- particularly Chara and Hamilton -- got very involved in the offensive end on Monday night against Toronto. It might be perfect timing for an offensively skilled D-man like Krug.
7:17 p.m.: The intrigue of trade deadline season continues, as reports out of Providence say that Alex Khokhlachev is a late scratch for the P-Bruins. Between the Krug call-up and the Khokhlachev scratching, it appears as though something may be afoot. Hopefully, if there is news, it won't break until after the game at least. We don't need any distractions when the Habs are in town.
7:08 p.m.: Here is what the Bruins looked like during line rushes:
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton
Daniel Paille-Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin
Brad Marchand-Rich Peverley-Jordan Caron
Jay Pandolfo-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Zdeno Chara-Dougie Hamilton
Andrew Ference-Matt Bartkowski/Torey Krug
Dennis Seidenberg-Aaron Johnson
Obviously, Johnny Boychuk is not one of those D-men, so he's out, and one of either Bartkowski, Johnson or Krug will presumably be a healthy scratch. There's always the chance that Claude throws a curveball and scratches a regular, but we won't know until it gets closer to puck drop.
6:56 p.m.: As I get settled in here at the TD Garden and await the start of warm-ups, I'll pass along that I saw a fan outside of the building wearing a Jarome Iginla jersey and holding a "Free Iggy" sign. That's one hopeful fella.
5 p.m.: This is interesting -- the Bruins just announced that they've called up Torey Krug from Providence.
Now, the initial thought is that Johnny Boychuk may indeed be unable to play tonight, and perhaps the Bruins haven't liked what they've seen out of Matt Bartkowski and would like to give Krug a chance. However, the one-way contract the team just gave Bartkowski yesterday says otherwise.
This is purely speculation, of course, but it's not outrageous to think some teams may have their eyes on Krug as the trade deadline approaches and would like to see his game at the NHL level. The Bruins said that Krug will be available to play tonight, so we'll see if he makes it onto the ice for warmups in a couple of hours.
Krug, 21, has played 55 games for Providence this season, scoring 10 goals with 24 assists and a minus-6 rating. He did play in two NHL games for the Bruins last season, registering an assist against Ottawa. He ranks sixth in the AHL in points among defensemen.
If this were maybe a month ago, it might not generate as much excitement or raise as many eyebrows, but this is trade deadline season, and every single move causes some sort of reaction.
3:30 p.m.: It seems wrong that tonight will be the final time we see the Montreal Canadiens in Boston this regular season, and that's because it really is. Alas, we had that little lockout back in the fall, and only getting to see Montreal come to town twice is part of the price we have to pay.
Nevertheless, tonight should be a doozy, as it's the first time the Bruins have met the Canadiens since that memorable Sunday night matchup in early March, when Zdeno Chara was issued 17 penalty minutes for fighting Alexei Emelin, who got away with a cross-check on Tyler Seguin in the neutral zone.
Afterwards, Bruins coach Claude Julien complained that the Canadiens embellish too much, and Brad Marchand called out P.K. Subban for going after "the smallest guy on the team."
It was a rather memorable evening.
Oh yeah, and the Canadiens won 4-3.
Since that night, the Bruins have sputtered a bit, going 7-4-1 and losing Chris Kelly to a fractured tibia and Adam McQuaid to a strained shoulder. The Canadiens, meanwhile, have gone 6-3-1 since then, including a 1-0 loss in Pittsburgh last night.
Both teams have 45 points, but first place will be on the line tonight, with the Bruins technically holding that spot right now due to playing one fewer game than Montreal. With only one more meeting left this season (April 6 in Montreal), both teams know that these nights are the ones when they can really get a leg up in the standings with two points.
For the Bruins, Johnny Boychuk's status is uncertain. He did skate this morning but Julien said he'd need to be re-evaluated later in the day. In terms of lines, Milan Lucic was reunited with David Krejci and Nathan Horton, while Daniel Paille remained on the left wing on a line with Patrice Bergeron and Tyler Seguin. That leaves Brad Marchand down on the third line with Rich Peverley and Jordan Caron. Julien proved the other night against Toronto that such changes can mean a lot and a little, as he swapped back to the "regular" lines in the third period after the initial switch.
Stay tuned here on the live blog all afternoon and night, as we'll have all the updates live from the TD Garden.
Read more from Michael by clicking here, or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
