Bruins Win Gunfight With Montreal (10/10/24)

Its only been two games in the 2024-25 regular season so far for the Boston Bruins but defense apparently is optional. After allowing six goals to the Florida Panthers in the season opener, they allowed four goals tonight to the Montreal Canadiens. The good news was the Boston Bruins offense showed up tonight to score six of their own. Brendan Gallagher opened the scoring for Montreal in the first period on the power play but Charlie McAvoy answered with a power play goal of his own. Cole Caufield scored to put Montreal ahead but goals from Mark Kastelic and Elias Lindholm put Boston on top. David Pastrnak and Cole Koepke scored in the second period but Montreal rallied in the third. Josh Anderson and Gallagher both scored to pull the Canadiens within one but Kastelic scored his second with four minutes left to effectively end the game. The Bruins survived a high octane game with the Canadiens 6-4 at TD Garden.

                                                          This is the Sway

The Bruins wasted no time drawing a penalty when Cayden Primeau, the Montreal goalie, got called for tripping just 24 seconds into the game. It looked like Hampus Lindholm fired one past Primeau for a power play goal but Montreal coach Martin St. Louis challenged that Primeau was interfered with. Sure enough, the refs bowed to Montreal and said no-goal. Then 6:26 into the period Nikita Zadorov got called for holding. Brad Marchand blasted Alex Newhook but Lane Hutson passed it to Joel Armia. Armia fired it on net and Brendan Gallagher tucked in the puck for a goal against Jeremy Swayman to put Montreal on top. With 9:02 left in the period, Armia went off for tripping to put Boston on the power play. With "Kingdom" by Downstraight playing, Charlie McAvoy was so inspired he shot the puck past Primeau for a power play goal right off the faceoff. Just over a minute later Hutson passed the puck to Kaiden Guhle who threw it to Cole Caufield. Caufield tucked the puck past Swayman to put Montreal back on top. With 6:36 to go, Cole Koepke drilled the puck in, Zadorov passed it to Mark Kastelic who shot the puck in to tie the game for his first goal as a Bruin. With 5:34 to go, Trent Frederic was kicked to the penalty box for hooking. The Bruins killed off the penalty and the Bruins got another chance with 1:37 remaining. David Pastrnak passed it to Zadorov who fired on net, tipped in by Elias Lindholm for his first goal as a Bruin. That ended the first period with the Bruins up 3-2.

                                                     Marchand sets the tone

Swayman and the defense kept the lead intact throughout the first half of the second period and the Bruins got a powerplay four minutes into the period. Hutson got called for holding but Boston did nothing on the power play. Charlie Coyle got nabbed for high sticking 9:38 into the period but the Canadiens failed to score. Mike Matheson got called for tripping with 8:53 left in the period to put the Bruins on another power play. Marchand set up Pastrnak but Primeau stopped the slap shot. With 4:04 left in the period, Elias Lindholm passed it behind the net to Pavel Zacha. Zacha threw it in front where Pastrnak sniped the puck past Primeau to put the Bruins up by two. Less than a minute later, Carlo passed it up to John Beecher. Beecher threw it on net and Koepke dunked it in for his first goal as a Bruin. Then with 1:59 left, McAvoy took a tripping penalty. The Bruins managed to kill it off and went into the break up 5-2.

                                                         Bruins go up by three

The Bruins opened the third period killing the last second off the McAvoy penalty then went on the power play 4 minutes into the period when Caufield got called for hooking. The Bruins couldn't score and two minutes later, McAvoy flipped the puck out of the zone for a delay of game penalty. Just after killing it off, Oliver Kapanen passed to Guhle who fired it on net. Josh Anderson tipped it in for a goal to put the Canadiens down by two. With 4:17 left in the game Armia passed it down low to Jake Evans. Evans threw it in front of the net and Gallagher pumped it in to put the Habs down by one. Just seventeen seconds later, Carlo passed it to Koepke along the boards. He threw it down ice where Kastelic picked it up. Kastelic saw Beecher in front of the net and threw it towards him....but it just happened to bounce off Primeau and in for a goal to essentially end the game. A minute later, Marchand took a delay of game penalty but the Bruins were able to kill it off. The Canadiens pulled Primeau but couldn't score. The Bruins had won the game 6-4.

                                                              Bruins win

Reaction:

Swayman looked rusty as hell but the offense peppered the Canadiens in this one. Swayman only faced 24 shots and 4 of them went in. Still, the positives were everywhere like Koepke getting his first goal and Kastelic getting two. Kastelic is going to be popular with Bruin fans, just wait. That was a team effort on offense down the line with assists to set up the goals. Its only been two games but they've scored 10 goals already, hopefully they can keep that up. The defense needs a little work but Zadorov is still adjusting to a new scheme and Swayman has to essentially play himself into shape after missing most of training camp. Still, a win is a win, doesn't matter who its against. The Bruins now prepare to go for two wins in a row when they're back in action this Saturday afternoon at home against the Los Angeles Kings. The game begins at 1:00 PM at TD Garden.