In the old days, the Bruins would have felt cheated.
Back then, in the old Montreal Forum, fans of all visiting teams, but especially Boston, believed the officials were heavily inclined to blow their whistles in favor of the home team.
So when the Canadiens earned two long 5-on-3 power plays — 1:27 in the first and 1:49 in the second — on Saturday night, the Bruins would have felt something sketchy was in play.
But in 2025, the Bell Centre isn’t as forboding as the old Forum. The Bruins have won regularly in Montreal in recent years. They killed both two-man advantages and only allowed two shots on goal in the combined 3:16 en route to a 3-2 win.
After the second 5-on-3, the officials called another Boston penalty — interference on Hampus Lindholm — but the Bruins killed that too.
In all, the Canadiens were 0-for-7 on the power play after coming in as the NHL’s No. 8 power play at 24.5 percent. With two fights and six coincidental roughing minors, the teams combined for 22 infractions and 56 penalty minutes.
David Pastrnak, who doesn’t kill penalties, was impressed.
“If you don’t score on the 5-on-3, you don’t deserve to win,” he said. “Our guys did an amazing job killing it. Well-deserved two points. All credit goes to the penalty killers and (Jeremy Swayman).”
Nikita Zadorov agreed.
“Outstanding. Definitely won us the game. Guys were laying on the ice, blocking shots. Putting their faces in shooting lane,“ said Zadorov, who was on the ice killing penalties for 4:53. ”We take pride in it. Definitely stepped up today and got us two points for sure.”
Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman stopped 28 shots in the game, including six against the Montreal power play.
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