Jan 24, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Montreal Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault (35) makes a save in front of Boston Bruins defenseman Mason Lohrei (6) during the first period at TD Garden. | Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images
It’s cute seeing the Sportsnet panel covering the Montreal Canadiens on a day they have to because the Toronto Maple Leafs aren’t playing.
First period
Close checking and a high pace to begin this game. There isn’t a lot of room to work out there right now, but Montreal isn’t panicking under the pressure.
Samuel Montembeault leaves a giant rebound on the first shot he faces over five minutes in, but recovers in time to stop a second one.
Like it did in the last game between these teams, Montreal speed is making a difference. Mike Matheson backs off the defence on a zone entry, then peels off to freeze them in the mid slot. Cole Caufield recognizes what’s happened, and jumps behind the Bruins players, accepting a pass from Matheson and scoring on a half-zone breakaway.
Montreal is making the Bruins look slow again, and no one needed to get repeatedly punched in the head first.
The constant pressure results in a power play … for Boston as Zachary Bolduc goes off for a trip just above the Bruins’ goal line.
They probably shouldn’t leave Morgan Geekie alone at the side of the net. Fortunately, he missed the pass that came to him.
Outside of that missed assignment, Montreal did well to kill off Bolduc’s penalty.
Montreal is the much better team in this game. The Habs are just faster and more skilled, as they proved on December 23.
That just makes the careless icing calls more frustrating. There are more effective plays that can be made.
Now we have a fight, as … Kirby Dach and Jonathan Aspirot wrestle each other to the ice after a long offensive-zone shift. It looks like Dach injured his hand, which might end this return from injury at seven periods.
That’s one way to clear a roster spot for Patrik Laine I suppose.
Bolduc just misses a breakaway pass from Evans. Those two combine to get Jeremy Swayman down and out at the side of the net moments later, and one of them should have been able to make this game 2-0.
The third attempt on goal by Boston is from David Pastrnak in the slot after a poor turnover from Alexandre Texier in the dying seconds, but the puck goes off the post.
A mostly great period from Montreal, with a deserved 1-0 lead.
Second period
As yes, we will start this period with another penalty on the Canadiens. Noah Dobson squeeze out his man on the boards before he played the puck, and the Bruins now have as many power plays as shots in this game.
This penalty kill isn’t showing nearly as much structure. Everyone is just reacting to where the puck goes. Pastrnak hits another post as the puck glances off the arm of Montembeault.
The Bruins take advantage of the headless defending with a power-play goal to tie the game. Matheson was left alone to defend a two-on-one at the top of the crease, and that’s what was happening earlier in the season when Montreal was having so much trouble.
Too much scrambling from Montreal after that goal, and the Bruins are starting to get some shots now.
Strange. Juraj Slafkovský just got knocked down before he could play the puck in the offensive zone, and no arm went up.
Slafkovský does end up with his drawn call however when Pavel Zacha places a stick blade under his skate and knocks him down.
Montreal makes a sequence of passes up and down the neutral zone to confuse the Bruins and easily gain the zone. Set up versus a dizzied penalty kill, the Habs can press deep into the zone, and that leads to a relatively short pass from Suzuki high in the slot to Caufield in the left circle for his second goal of the game.
Boston gets a third power play as Kaiden Guhle whacks Sean Kuraly in the face with his stick. Five of their eight shots have come on the man advantage.
Matheson goes in on a rush in the offensive zone and almost powers through for a goal. At the other end, Jake Evans skates right past Geekie at the side of the net to chase Pastrnak, and Geekie has two whacks when the puck comes to him to hit an empty net.
The penalty kill is just atrocious with panic from every single player. Six shots against in those minutes with about six scoring chances and two goal, just three shots at five-on-five through half a game.
I don’t know why everyone is just attacking the puck-carrier tonight. Boston just got another open look on a two-on-two because both Habs defenders went to the same player.
An extra two minutes to Pastrnak I say for complaining about an obvious interference penalty after falling down in his zone and seeing Evans coming in to pick up the puck.
Caufield is feeling himself. He walked in looking for a puck-sized hole above Swayman’s shoulder, but Swayman makes the save. About 15 seconds later he finds that hole he’s looking for and completes the hat trick.
A pass from Caufield across the ice to Demidov on the next power play would result in the easiest tap-in goal Demidov could ever hope for.
Four consecutive power-play goals in this period.
Dach is back on the ice, so if the game ever sees more five-on-five, he will be back in the fray.
Bolduc is at the opposite end of the confidence spectrum to Caufield, just peeling off from taking a shot from 10 feet away.
Pastrnak’s line gets a few chances off a faceoff win versus Suzuki’s trio.
The teams trade power-play goals in the period, so Montreal takes a one goal lead into the second intermission as well.
You know there will be at least a couple of penalty kills for them to survive in the final 20 minutes. The coaching staff’s only task is to calm everyone down for the rest of the game. Montreal has been better at five-on-five save for the moments when they leave a player completely open.
Third period
The Bruins are diving all over the ice trying to get a call.
But they’re also spending the majority of the time in Montreal’s end. The Habs will need to get a few shifts in the offensive zone to break the pressure.
They start to do that coming out of the first commercial break as the Bruins can’t maintain their intensity.
Bolduc decides to shoot this time as he goes in one-on-one. He doesn’t score, but should still get a pat for earning an offensive-zone faceoff.
Andrew Peeke leans right into a hook on Brendan Gallagher like he’s in a tug of war. Next he gets his hands high and shoves Gallagher down, and Montreal gets the power play.
No goal, but two big minutes taken off the clock with the Bruins forced to defend.
The Bruins can only attempt stretch passes now with the speedier Canadiens being aggressive on their neutral-zone forecheck.
Montreal just spent two full shifts keeping the puck moving up ice. The Canadiens have taken over the momentum.
Boston is able to get the puck into Montreal’s zone, and a backhand shot from Fraser Minten solves Montembeault to tie the game.
The Bruins are immediately going on a power play with a chance to quickly turn a one-goal deficit into a one-goal lead.
It took six seconds for them to get it, a shot by Geekie from distance that got past Montembeault’s blocker.
Montembeault goes to the bench with two minutes to play.
A perfectly legal cross-check to Caufield’s shoulders from McAvoy flattens the hat-trick scorer at the side of the net.
There’s no late winner in this game. Montreal’s penalty just cost them two points, and turned what should have been a five-point lead over the Bruins to just one.
Montreal is going to be out of a playoff spot if they continue to lose games like this.
There are now two days off for the Canadiens to look at their place in the standings. On Tuesday they will play the Vegas Golden Knights at the Bell Centre needing to get a positive result.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) Sportsnet was a little lost without its favourite team
2) But, alas, not always
1) Maybe they need to put him on the penalty kill, too
