BOSTON –– Despite a fiery start, the Boston Bruins lost their footing in the third period and ultimately fell 6-2 to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday at TD Garden.
“Even after the first period, guys came ready to play today. They were very excited, so it was good,” head coach Marco Sturm said. “But the goals we gave up – for me, it’s a lot of individual mistakes, fatigue. Guys were just mentally not sharp.”
Sammy Blais put the Canadiens ahead 1-0 at 11:08 of the first period, but the Bruins soon earned the lead.
Mason Lohrei kept the puck in the zone and carried it down the left side before hitting Marat Khusnutdinov with a cross-crease pass, which he one-timed past Montreal netminder Jacob Fowler at 12:25. Khusnutdinov’s fifth goal of the year made it 1-1 and extended his point streak to three games.
Alex Steeves potted a last-minute tally for the 2-1 lift while on the power play. David Pastrnak dished the puck over to Steeves in the right circle, where he sniped it home at 19:42. It was Steeves’ eighth goal of the season, and first PPG of his NHL career. The loss overshadowed that for the forward, though.
“It’s terrible, it stinks. Really, this whole homestand, going into break, it’s unfortunate,” Steeves said. “But I think it’s moments like these where you find out how tight the group is. I know we have a tight group, and I know we’ll bounce back from this and we’ll be stronger because of it. Stings for now.”
Viktor Arvidsson – who played in his first game since Dec. 11 after working through a lower-body injury – picked up the secondary assist on the scoring play. The forward was back on the second line with Casey Mittelstadt and Pavel Zacha.
“It was nice to be back and skating again and battling and stuff and be on the bench,” Arvidsson said. “Be with the guys. It felt good.”