Fifth defeat in six games for the Habs

Alex Newhook will be out for several weeks , so Jared Davidson took his place in the lineup.

Kirby Dach replaced Newhook on the second line alongside Ivan Demidov and Oliver Kapanen.

Samuel Montembeault was given the task of slowing down the Boston Bruins.

Generally speaking, this season at least, Saturday night games were quite exciting, especially when it came to the physical aspect.

It’s fair to say that both teams were quick to set the tone for the match.

Two fights broke out in the first four minutes of play, including one at the very start.

It was following these fights that both teams began to play some great hockey.

The Bruins opened the scoring a few minutes after the two fights. David Pastrnak completely fooled Montembeault, who thought the elite marksman was going to draw on the catch. However, he made a deke of the shot and passed it to Marat Khusnutdinov, who had a gaping cage.

A total of five penalties were awarded in the first twenty minutes. No goals were scored on the powerplay in the first period (despite a five-on-three advantage for the Habs), but Jake Evans did tie the game on the short-handed.

Evans took advantage of a two-on-one situation to thread the needle with a perfect shot.

After twenty minutes of play, the score was 1-1.

The Bruins wasted no time in the second period, however, as Mason Lohrei gave his team the lead with a shot from the point .

Midway through the 2nd period, the Habs took advantage of another five-on-three. But once again, it didn’t pay off.

Immediately after this five-on-three, the Habs took advantage of another powerplay. The hallmark of this massive attack, unfortunately, was Noah Dobson’s inbound shot blocked by Charlie McAvoy’s chin. It should also be pointed out that Dobson has an extremely powerful shot.

He collapsed immediately, blood pouring down the rink. A scene you never want to see… He obviously retreated to the dressing room for prompt medical attention.

He was transferred to a hospital near the Bell Centre for treatment.

Juraj Slafkovsky took a bad penalty in attacking territory with minutes left in the second period, leading to a Bruins goal.

Viktor Arvidsson scored his 200th career goal.

Fortunately for the Habs, Cole Caufield took advantage of a breakaway to cut the deficit to one goal.

After the second period, the score was 3-2 in favor of the Bruins.

The final period was hotly contested, with good scoring opportunities on both sides.

Samuel Montembeault held the fort with some big saves.

The Habs were unable to tie the game, however, and the Bruins passed the Habs in the standings. Final score: 3-2 Bruins.

The Habs’ next game is Monday night, when they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Extension

– With Newhook’s injury, the second wave of the powerplay needed a replacement. For the remainder of the last game against the Dallas Stars, we saw Joe Veleno take Newhook’s place, but let’s just say it’s not ideal, since Veleno hasn’t collected a single point so far. Kapanen was present on this second wave on a few occasions.

– At the start of the game, Juraj Slafkovsky was still on the first wave, but we saw Dobson take his place as the game progressed. On the second wave, however, we still didn’t see Slafkovsky, while Hutson was present on both waves, as was Suzuki. We also saw Brendan Gallagher on the 2nd wave.

– In a game like this, Slafkovsky had to stand up and play intimidatingly. He looked soft and this was clearly not his best game, far from it. That’s probably why Martin St-Louis took him off the powerplay, even though Slaf is the Habs’ leading powerplay scorer this season.

– As usual, Alexandre Carrier and Mike Matheson blocked several shots to help the club. However, there was a surprise for the Habs in the blocked shots column. Lane Hutson blocked three shots in the game. Matheson and Carrier blocked four shots. Hutson was the Habs’ most-used player.

– Towards the middle of the final period, the Habs found themselves short-handed. The Bruins had several quality chances, but Montembeault was very solid.