The Bruins dropped a tough one to Montreal on Wednesday at TD Garden.
Amidst all the Jarome Iginla trade rumors, the Bruins actually had to play a game Wednesday night, which of course turned out to be a wild 6-5 shootout loss to the Canadiens at TD Garden.
Boston (21-7-4) fell behind 2-0 but rallied for four goals in the second period. Montreal (21-7-5) outscored the B’s 3-1 in the third to send it to overtime, tying it with 8.2 seconds left then Brendan Gallagher scored the only goal for either team in the six rounds of the shootout. With the win, Montreal goes up one point on Boston for first place in the Northeast Division.
Tuukka Rask (23 saves; 15-4-4) was a bit shaky but only one of the goals could truly be ruled his fault. The Canadiens played well but they also took advantage of some great bounces that went their way in the third period. Former Bruin Michael Ryder opened the scoring with a one-timer in the first period, then P.K. Subban had an absolute laser in the second period for the 2-0 Montreal advantage. Thirty-nine seconds after the Subban strike, Dougie Hamilton got the Bruins on the board, sparking four goals for his team in 14:04. Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron (power play) and Nathan Horton made it 4-2 Bruins.
Ryder potted his second goal early in the third period with Tyler Seguin giving Boston another two-goal lead (5-3) with 8:10 left. Gallagher cut it to 5-4 after his initial shot went off Dennis Seidenberg’s face, then Andrei Markov was credited with the tying goal that truthfully deflected off Zdeno Chara’s stick. Carey Price was pulled after the second period but backup goaltender Peter Budaj only allowed one goal in the third period, nothing in overtime then stopped all six Boston shooters in the shootout.
Boston finally gets two days off and they will certainly enjoy it after this emotionally and physically taxing game.
The Bruins visit the Flyers on Saturday afternoon (1 p.m., NESN) and the Sabres on Sunday night (7:30 p.m., NBCSN).
Follow Metro Boston Bruins beat writer Richard Slate on Twitter @RichSlate
