BOSTON – The Boston Bruins hosted the Montreal Canadiens last night for their final game before the holiday break. It was not all merry and bright for the Bruins, however, as they fell 6-2 for the second straight game. Staying out of the penalty box has plagued the Boston Bruins throughout the 2025-26 campaign, and it cost them last night.
On Monday, David Pastrnak noted that this was one of the most important games of the season and dubbed it a “must-win.” After Tuesday’s morning skate, Marco Sturm said, “My guys will be ready today.” The game had meaning for the Bruins; not only was it a get-right game before the break, but it was against their biggest rival in Montreal.
The game started, and three seconds into it, Tanner Jeannot squared off with Josh Anderson. The TD Garden crowd was loud and very much invested in this game. Then, Nikita Zadorov kept the intensity going and got the crowd right back on their feet when he took on Arber Xhekaj.
“These guys have been awesome the whole season long. They are showing it, they are playing well, they got bigger roles,” David Pastrnak said about the fights. “It’s easy to get into the game when you have guys like this.”
After the dust settled and the game got back on, the Canadiens took and killed the night’s first penalty. Shortly after, Sammy Blais got the scoring started. Mason Lohrei set up Marat Khusnutdinov for the tying goal just 77 seconds later.
There were five power play opportunities in the first period. Montreal had two chances, Boston had three. The Bruins killed off both of the Canadiens’ power plays; Montreal’s power play was sixth-ranked going into the night. Montreal also killed the first two Boston man-advantages; Boston’s power play was ranked seventh. On the third Bruins chance, Alex Steeves received the puck from David Pastrnak and lasered it into the net.
Photo courtesy of naturalstattrick.com
The first period was dominant for the Bruins; they generated chances and steered the offense towards Jacob Fowler. The Bruins led shots on goal 17-8, and had five high-danger chances to the Canadiens’ zero. The Bruins had five more scoring chances, as well.
That flipped in the second period. Montreal jumped out of the gate to tie the game less than two minutes into the second frame. They would continue to pounce on the Bruins in the second. Shots were 12-5, high danger chances totaled 5-1, and the scoring chances were 9-4, all in favor of Montreal during the middle frame.
The Bruins’ penalty kill stepped up in the middle frame as well. Alex Steeves drew a double-minor for a high stick, and the Bruins’ PK units killed off all four minutes.
Then, the Bruins got one, but the referees had other ideas. In the final seconds of the period, Morgan Geekie put the puck in the net-front area. Elias Lindholm got his stick on the puck and pushed it by Jacob Fowler, only for the referees to say that David Pastrnak interfered with Fowler and disallowed the goal. The Bruins did not challenge the ruling on the ice.
The game remained a 2-2 tie headed into the third period.
“I think we thought David had the stick in the goalie’s pad, and he couldn’t move,” Sturm said after the game. “And, it was a non-goal call from the ref, too… They don’t like to overrule things.”
Early in the third period, Nikita Zadorov’s stick broke, allowing Nick Suzuki and Zac Bolduc to rush in on Jeremy Swayman. Bolduc cashed in on the rebound to give the Canadiens a 3-2 lead; then the Bruins challenged. The referees upheld the call, penalizing the Bruins.
“I feel like if you look around the league, and even with us, two today, sometimes you never know. Looking back afterwards, could we have made maybe a different call on one of them? Maybe,” Sturm said. “But, again, those are split-second. Sometimes you have to make a decision right away. We trust everyone.”
Viktor Arvidsson served the bench minor, and 80 seconds later, Tanner Jeannot was called for a cross-check. The Canadiens, who had just taken the lead, were gifted a 40-second five-on-three. It took them 19 seconds to score on the two-man advantage, and they remained on the power play.
Then, as the Canadiens remained on the power play, Hampus Lindholm was called for a trip. The crowd was still into this game, with a lot of the noise directed at the referees. Then, Nick Suzuki, on the five-on-three, stepped up to the plate and batted one into the net. Five-on-threes were hurting the Bruins, and benefiting the Canadiens; they went a perfect two-for-two on those chances. It went from tied at two to a three-goal Montreal lead in a matter of minutes.
The Bruins had success killing at five-on-four; they went five-for-five on those chances. It was the five-on-threes that overtook the direction of this game.
“PK was outstanding today, it really, really was,” Sturm said. “But again, we had that, I thought it was a very soft call, first of all, very soft call, to give us the three-on-five, the first one there, and I don’t know why he called us and not maybe both.”
Taking seven penalties is not going to help you out in any regard. It is something that the Bruins have continued to do, and it continues to hurt them.
The Bruins have picked up 522 penalty minutes on the season; the next closest is Calgary at 511. They have taken 193 penalties; Calgary is again the closest, but a little further back at 168. The Bruins lead the league in times shorthanded, too, going into the break at 144; in second is Chicago at 125. Penalties have hurt the Bruins, especially with the penalty kill continuing to fall down the rankings.
“There was a lot of them. It’s definitely something we’ve talked about trying to clean up,” Alex Steeves said. “Seems to be just finding new ways, or the same ways, to keep happening. I know a lot of times guys are trying to play hard and kill plays, and the stick finds a skate or finds a face or stuff like that. We’re the most penalized team in the league, so we got to clean that up.”
Juraj Slafkovsky finished a one-time feed from Lane Hutson, who had three points on the night, to give the Canadiens a commanding 6-2 lead at the TD Garden.
“If you look at today, I still can’t believe that the game actually ended up 2-6,” Sturm added after the game. “Guys came ready to play today, they were excited, so it was good. But even the goals we gave up, for me, it’s a lot of individual mistakes. Fatigue, guys were just mentally not sharp, you could see it. It seems like all week, we never had that confidence.”
Although it is not the way that the team wanted to enter this break, it comes at a great time. The team can have its focus elsewhere for the next few days, while they rest and recover for the upcoming road trip.
“Any time you can get a rest in this league, especially with a schedule like that, it’s huge,” Nikita Zadorov said. “I don’t think it’s only physical, I think it’s mentally on us as well. We still have a lot of belief in this room that we’re a good team, and we’re going to do it.”
“The break comes at a good time for us,” Sturm added. “Especially, I think, for everyone. Just to regroup and recharge a little bit, and maybe it’s good to start on the road again and find our game again, especially on the defensive side.”
The Bruins opened with the energy Marco Sturm was looking for and controlled much of the first period. However, penalties, particularly the five-on-threes, allowed the game to slip away. The Canadiens capitalized, skating out of TD Garden with a 6-2 win and sending the Bruins into the holiday break on their second four-game losing streak of the season.
Hockey aside, it is truly the most wonderful time of the year. Happy Holidays to everyone! Enjoy the upcoming festivities.