Kalman: Bruins Earn Win Over Rival Montreal With Documentary Cameras Rolling
BOSTON (CBS) – EPIX brought in its cameras and suddenly the Bruins figured out how to defeat the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.
Although the EPIX crew started covering the Bruins earlier this week, and didn't inspire them in a 3-2 loss against Nashville on Monday, the focus on the Bruins-Canadiens game was more intense because it was the last meeting between the two rivals before the Jan. 1 NHL Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium.
And that's the whole reason EPIX has decided to cover the Bruins and Canadiens and meddle in all of Boston coach Claude Julien's super-secret backroom machinations.
Julien's secrets to success were on display for all to see in the 3-1 victory at Bell Centre, where the Bruins hadn't won since March 12, 2014 in the regular season. (For some reason playoff results often get ignored when compiling streaks and individual stats; Boston won Game 4 of the second-round series in 2014). With the talent gap the Bruins have right now they need two things every night to have a chance to win against the elite of the NHL: all-world goaltending and coaching that pulls out all the stops.
Tuukka Rask gave the Bruins the first thing with 32 saves on 33 shots. If that doesn't seem like an excessive workload, consider that Montreal had 72 shot attempts to Boston's 41. The Canadiens had the puck all game and for most of the first 2 ½ periods they were on the attack. While the Bruins' skaters were skating as though they were allergic to the puck and the Canadiens, Rask was silencing all the critics that said he would never beat the Canadiens. Heck, the Bruins might've been starting to worry about Rask's ability to win in Montreal because backup Jonas Gustavsson got the start in Boston's last visit.
Rask, who you'll remember was one win away from defeating Montreal in that 2014 playoff series, took his career 3-14-3 record (in the regular season), .906 save percentage and 2.74 goals-against average against the Canadiens, into a crucial game Wednesday and erased all the bad memories with his best game of the season. The shots were coming from all over and the only puck that eluded him deflected off defenseman Zach Trotman. He received zero help for the first 47 minutes.
Then all of a sudden Loui Eriksson beat defenseman Jeff Petry 1-on-1 for a shorthanded goal to tie the score 1-1 and the Bruins were off and rolling. Landon Ferraro and Patrice Bergeron scored the next two goals to make sure the other element Boston needed came to fruition. Julien sparked his team with some line changes and they paid off. Julien wasn't afraid to move Matt Beleskey to right wing with Bergeron and Brad Marchand. Beleskey kept the puck alive along the wall to set the table for a Marchand-Bergeron connection on the goal that made it 3-1.
Ferraro, teamed with Brett Connolly and Ryan Spooner, continued to get a bigger role with the Bruins with 14:35 of ice time (his most as a Bruin). The next time someone blows his horn about Ken Holland's genius in Detroit, bring up that the Bruins got Ferraro from the Red Wings on waivers.
Julien's hardcore coaching started last weekend when he scratched Dennis Seidenberg, Colin Miller and Jimmy Hayes. Seidenberg responded with a better game against the Canadiens. Hayes was forced back into the lineup because of Joonas Kemppainen's injury, but Julien didn't force Hayes into the action. Despite the forward's high profile, Hayes played 10:03 because Julien didn't deem the player worth of more. Not often has the talk about players having to earn their ice time turned to actions, but Julien's putting that philosophy to use. As Ferraro gets a bigger role, Hayes' shrinks. Trotman was limited to 14:05 and hardly saw the ice in the third period. The merit system is alive and well for EPIX and the world to see.
The Bruins had been 0-6-1 in their past seven regular-season games against the Canadiens and they had won just one of 12. The drought is over and the best news is that they're undefeated against Montreal in outdoor games. If the Bruins can beat the Canadiens with such a lackluster performance indoors, imagine what they might do to Montreal at Gillette if they get even half their players playing well.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
