The Montreal Canadiens are finally back in the National Hockey League’s consciousness, but it might take a while before their ancient rivals are back on their level.
The Bruins were ready for a battle in mind and spirit but not body as the young, emerging talent of the Habs bested the undermanned B’s roster in a 4-1 decision at the Bell Centre. It was the B’s 10th straight loss, their longest losing streak since the 2009-10 season.
Jeremy Swayman (27 saves) had one of his better games of recent vintage but another terrible second period by the B’s was the main culprit in the loss.
“We came ready to play but I thought the second period, we gave up the early goal and, hey, that happens. But we mismanaged the puck on the next goal,” interim coach Joe Sacco told NESN. “The second period seems to be a bit of trend for us that we’re not able to sustain the the type of game we want in the second period.”
Yes, the L’s are good for the organization in the long-term, and the late tank job since the trade deadline now has the B’s in the top four of June’s draft, pending the lottery. But nobody wants to see mailed-in efforts. At least he B’s didn’t do that on Thursday, or in their last three games.
“We can definitely build off that,” said Swayman, who took his seventh straight loss. “It’s an incredible environment. I love playing here, a big rivalry game. I think the guys showed up and started really well and that’s something we can build off.”
While the B’s have been working their way to a top-five draft pick, the Habs have been climbing the standings toward their possible first playoff berth in four years.
But despite the teams’ juxtaposition, the B’s showed early on that that they weren’t going to go through the motions, not against the Canadiens, not in the Bell Centre.
It helped that Swayman was on top of his game. In the scoreless first period, he made a very good stop on Cole Caufield on a 2-on-1 and then another on an Alex Newhook redirection.
The B’s had some chances, too, the best being a clean breakaway for Elias Lindholm that Sam Montembeault turned away.
There was nastiness as well. Heated scrums took place around both nets, the second of which led to a Canadien power play after Montembault stopped a John Beecher break in. The Habs could not capitalize, nor could the B’s do anything on their earlier PP.
The B’s had an 8-7 shot advantage in the first.
But the Habs got on the board 40 seconds into the second period on a maddening goal. Swayman had just made an excellent save on Brendan Gallagher from the slot and the B’s had a chance to get it out of the danger zone but could not control the bouncing puck. Christian Dvorak swooped in and, from nearly the same spot from Gallagher’s original shot, he snapped it past Swayman’s glove side for the 1-0 lead.
It would be one of those second periods for the B’s, who were outshot 17-2 in the middle period.
The Habs poured it on then but Swayman kept it to a one-goal game for most of the period, thanks to a spectacular glove save. He’d made a save on a long-distance shot but the rebound went dangerously to the right side. Alexandre Carrier came down from the right point and, with Swayman struggling to get to his feet, it looked like he had an easy goal. But Swayman lunged to his left and got his glove on it from is knees to make the tremendous stop.
The B’s were being outshot 14-0 when, just after the B’s got their first shot on net on a dangerous Lindholm chance, Cole Koepke dropped the gloves with Kaiden Guhle, who’d landed a big hit on Fabian Lysell, and gave the Canadien several solid rights to score that W, the B’s only one of the night.
It was a good push-back for the B’s but, shortly after that, the Habs took a 2–0 lead at 14:24. The long change got them again when Nikita Zadorov went for a change when it looked like the B’s were in control of the puck in the offensive zone, but Morgan Geekie turned it over out high. Nick Suzuki took off on a 2-on-1 and, after deftly avoiding Henri Jokiharju’s sweep check attempt, he beautifully fed Caufield, who had an empty net at which to shoot.
Three minutes into the third period, a Casey Mittelstadt turnover led to an easy Gallagher goal and the Habs were on their way. It wouldn’t be long before the success-starved Bell Centre crowd would take up their sing-song “Ole, Ole, Ole,” Montreal’s musical version of a victory cigar.
Lindholm did get the B’s on the board wit 6:41 remaining when he followed up a David Pastrnak bid, but Suzuki finished them off with an empty–net goal with 1:57 left.
Bancroft added
The Bruins added some size and edge to their prospect pool on Wednesday with the signing of Cornell’s Dalton Bancroft.
The 6-foot-3, 207-pound physical left-shot forward inked a one-year entry level deal that will carry an NHL cap hit of 950,000. He will finish the season with Providence on an amateur tryout contract.
A 24-year-old undrafted free agent out of Madoc, Ontario, Brancroft posted 15-12-27 totals in 36 games for Cornell last season while playing with Bruin draftee Ryan Walsh (20023 sixth-rounder, 188th overall.) In 103 NCAA games with Cornell, Bancroft had 36-43-79 totals.
In 2021-22, he was the MVP of the Ontario Junior Hockey League with a league-high 37-55-92 totals.
Originally Published: April 3, 2025 at 9:46 PM EDT
