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Had it not been for the gigantic ‘2016’ on the auxiliary rink 12 feet to the right of the Boston Bruins bench, you would have guessed that today’s Winter Classic game between the B’s and Montreal Canadiens was being played in 2015. Or 2014. Or 2013, for that matter. As even with the scene shifted to the scenic outdoor venue of Foxborough’s Gillette Stadium in front of a rowdy 67,246, the Bruins yet again had no answer for their hated rivals to the North, as the Habs decimated the Bruins by a 5-1 final.
“We just didn’t respond well to the big stage today,” B’s top-six forward
Matt Beleskey, Boston’s lone scorer on the afternoon, admitted after the defeat. “We were a little hesitant and it showed in the first period, they got the momentum, and it’s tough to come back from that.”
The Canadiens opened up the game’s scoring just 1:14 into the first period behind the eighth goal of the season from center
David Desharnais, with assists to Dale Weise and d-man Alexei Emelin.
In a game where the emphasis was on the first goal, the Habs had it and didn’t look back.
After a first period that saw the Canadiens limit the Bruins to just three shots while putting 14 of their own towards
Tuukka Rask, the Habs jumped out to a 2-0 edge behind
Paul Byron’s sixth of the season.
Brendan Gallagher, in his first game since Nov. 22, extended that to 3-0 at the 17:20 mark of the middle frame, and the Black and Gold looked dead at the 50-yard line.
“I think we just had a tough night,” Boston coach
Claude Julien, who coached in his second Winter Classic with the B’s and donned a Bill Belichick-esque Bruins hoodie for the game, said. “The unfortunate part is that I think we played one of our probably worst games at the worst time. I think it just seemed like it was one of those nights we couldn't get anything going the first period. They were all over us. And it just didn't matter what we tried to do here we just couldn't get it going.”
Nothing went the Bruins’ way in this loss. Even when Beleskey brought the Razor to life with his goal 3:56 into the third period,
Max Pacioretty reestablished Montreal’s three-goal edge less than five minutes later. The midfield ice rink was an island, and Beleskey and Rask were the only two there.
“That's what happens sometimes. We have nights where things just don't go your way, and we just couldn't seem to find the rhythm. We couldn't seem to find our game,” said Julien. “And we know we have challenges, but we didn't want to use that as an excuse and we shouldn't. But they came out really hard. They came out well. They seemed to be on their toes. And they had us on our heels early. As I said, from there I think the only rhythm I saw in our team was when we scored that goal, for about five minutes we seemed to have some life, but then it dissipated again.”
Byron’s second of the game made it 5-1, more than enough for Massachusets native
Mike Condon to earn the victory over his hometown club behind a noteworthy 27-of-28 night.
As has been the case in the Bruins-Canadiens rivalry of late, this was a game where the Canadiens capitalized on their chances while the Bruins stumbled and fumbled their way to a loss.
While the Canadiens earned their breaks with a dominant first period that took the Gillette crowd -- at least those of whom showed up donning black and gold -- out of it, you couldn’t help but feel as if it took the Bruins 25 chances to create one goal while their opponent could make it happen on just one. That is, in the simplest of ways, you can break down the Julien-Therrien chapter of this rivalry. The Canadiens, with or without Carey Price in their crease, remain an opportunistic bunch. And the Bruins, with or without David Krejci and Brad Marchand, remain a club that needs to slowly grind down their opponents in order to build the momentum and pressure needed to get through Montreal’s layers.
The former has worked much better than the latter. Indoors. Outdoors. It’s all the same.
And that’s not what the Bruins, with yet another chance to jump into first place gone, want to hear.
Up next
The Bruins will have an off day on Saturday before returning to the practice rink on Sunday in preparation for a Tuesday night home meeting with the Washington Capitals.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Boston Chapter of the Pro Hockey Writers Association since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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