As so many of the 31 teams in the NHL, not named the Boston Bruins are finding, you cannot count on them being down for an entire 60 minutes. At some point that may cost the Bruins, but for now they are just fine.
On Sunday, the Bruins were held in check for 40 minutes and then erupted in the third period for three goals in a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens, in Boston.
“I can’t stand here and tell our fans I’m happy,” Montreal coach Claude Julien said. “They want wins. We’re not winning. They don’t care about these kind of positive things from our team. But I do know that we played defensively, we didn’t give them much. I could see frustration on the other side there creeping in as the game was going on because we weren’t giving them much.”
Tuukka Rask made 28 saves to get the win after yielding a first period goal to the Habs’ Joel Armia.
Boston is 8-0-3 in their last 11. David Pastrnak started the scoring in the final frame with his 25th goal of the season.
“You know they’re a really good team, to be honest,” Pastrnak said. “Really fast and played really well today. But we stuck with it. Obviously, we knew we were going to get one. We didn’t know we were going to get three in the third, but we knew … we were going to get the bounce at the net.”
Montreal’s winless streak now sits at eight games.
David Backesreturned to the lineup for Boston after 13 games and scored the eventuial game-winner.
“I think you could see it on my face, that was elation,” Backes said. “And first game back to have a go-ahead goal with 10 minutes left, get that opportunity on the power play, (I) appreciate all those opportunities.”
Jake DeBrusk added an insurance goal with under seven minutes to play to seal the win.
[WATCH: All Canadiens vs. Bruins highlights]
Carey Price made 31 saves in the loss.
“It’s hard to try and find any confidence with what’s going on right now,” Canadiens captain Shea Weber said. “But we’ve got to find a way somehow, one way or another. We’re the only ones that can dig ourselves out of this and we’ve got to find a way.”
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