It’s hard to peg a game in December as a “must win,” so let's not go there. However, Monday’s contest in Montreal against the Canadiens felt like a game the Bruins really needed to win.
Entering the Bell Centre for the odd Monday matchup—seriously NHL, TWO Monday games with Montreal this year? —the Bruins were losers of two in a row, while Claude Julien’s Canadiens had wins in six of their last eight. The Bruins also trailed the Habs by a point for the top wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
After back-to-back losses that saw the Bruins fail to pull points out of games they were tied in the third period in, head coach
Bruce Cassidy held a meeting with his players prior to Monday’s contest according to Joe McDonald of the Athletic.
McDonald reports the meeting lasted 10 minutes. McDonald was told by a player on the team that the meeting was “bold and it “had a purpose.” Whatever was said behind closed doors seemed to work.
Monday’s 4-0 shutout of the Canadiens was arguably the Bruins most complete effort of the season.
“No passengers at all, we knew what we had to do. We checked real well. We were going to make it hard for Montreal to create offense,” said Cassidy. “The last time we were in here, they were pretty good at it, so we had to learn a bit of a lesson. And then offensively, I think we’ve been playing better the last two, three weeks. It doesn’t always show up on the scoreboard when we score three or four goals a night, I think we’ll see more of that.”
The Bruins were all-around the better team. They limited Montreal to just a handful of scoring chances, got offensive production from all over the lineup, and caused a lot of confusion for the Canadiens when they had the puck on their stick.
The win also allowed the Bruins to leapfrog the Canadiens in the standings.
"Standings are getting closer and closer, points are really at a premium," said Torey Krug. "You look at the last couple games, where I think we deserved some points, we come back tonight and we actually go against a division opponent and come out with two points.”
The Bruins got goals from Joakim Nordstrom, Colby Cave, —first career NHL goal—David Krejci and Brad Marchand.
"It feels really good, especially in a winning effort. I thought we played an unreal game as a team tonight,” Cave said. “We rolled four lines and all three D pairs were playing good. Jaro [Halak] was a brick wall back there. It's a recipe for success."
Halak had to make just 22 saves for his third shutout of the season.
"It's always nice to get a shutout," said Halak. "I think tonight, back-to-back, we knew we had to keep our shifts short and that's what happened. I think from the drop of the puck we played pretty good for 60 minutes. We didn't give them much."
Halak was spot on as the Bruins didn’t give Montreal much to work with at all. The Canadiens failed to consistently test Halak on a night where the Bruins bounced back from a sloppy defensive effort against the Sabres on Sunday.
Montreal had 24 giveaways to Boston’s 11. The Bruins also outshot Montreal 35-22 and out attempted them 63-51.
Monday’s win gives the Bruins a 6-0-1 record in the second night of a back-to-back.
“It’s one of those things where we had another back-to-back because those second nights of back-to-backs kind of bring a team together. You’re not looking for any fancy things and making fancy plays,” said Krug. “You’re sticking together, trying to grind out a win, trying to play good road hockey and realizing that everyone is going to have to contribute. That’s a big part of it.”
The Bruins have five more back-to-backs remaining on the schedule including this weekend as they host the Nashville Predators on Saturday, before traveling to Carolina to take on the Hurricanes Sunday.
With their victory, the Bruins have now won five straight inside the Bell Centre.
Moving on from the win, hopefully the game ends up being more than just two points and a losing streak ending victory. A dominating win against your rivals, and against a team that you were chasing in the standings could be a momentum changer for the Bruins.
That, combined with Cassidy’s message in the meeting and the near returns of Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara could be exactly what the Bruins need in order to send the team on a run that puts some pressure on Tampa Bay, Buffalo and Toronto in the Atlantic division.
With three games in four nights starting Thursday, the Bruins can enter the holiday break on a massive high if things go their way.
Boston Bruins Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»