BOSTON – The Bruins leaned on their power play all night, and in the final minutes, it became the difference against the Canadiens on Saturday.

The Boston Bruins (30-20-2) rallied for two third-period goals in a 12-second span to take down their longtime rival, 4-3, at the TD Garden. The Montreal Canadiens (28-17-7) were led by a Cole Caufield hat-trick, but could not hold onto their lead late in the game. 

Three Bruins goals came on their power play; in the last two games, they have scored five power play goals on seven opportunities. 

“Again, power play was – they were great,” Marco Sturm said after the game. “They [have been] great all year long, but that’s something we talked about. We want to stay patient after the second period. We want to still continue to push, to play fast.” 

Morgan Geekie scored two of the power play goals; the second was the game-winner. Viktor Arvidsson had his own. The Bruins had seven shots on the power play and finished with 12 shot attempts. They went three-for-four on the power play and were only up a man for 4:08. 

The Bruins’ power play has aided them throughout the season, but especially recently. Since the calendar flipped to 2026, their power play has converted on 38.7% of their opportunities (12-for-31). That leads the NHL. 

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Geekie has five points in his last three games (3-2–5). He recently snapped a 12-game scoring drought and has found his scoring touch again. 

“Every player is going to go through this sometimes. That’s just a part of, you know, experience,” David Pastrnak said about Geekie getting out of his slump. “I’ve been through it many times in my career. So, he’s definitely around it already.” 

Although the Bruins won, it was the Canadiens who hit the ground running to start this game. At the first intermission, they were up 1-0 and had a shots advantage of 7-2; the Bruins just could not hit the net. Although the Canadiens had the shot advantage, shot attempts were nearly even at 16-14 in their favor. 

“It was just flat, for some reason,” Marco Sturm said. “[It] was very quiet, no energy. Made some really bad mistakes. So, you know, it was a good response off of that for sure.”

“We know we had more life,” Jeremy Swayman said about the message after the first intermission. “We knew that it was an important win. So we weren’t going to let these 20 minutes slip, and obviously, we gave it our all, and it shifted in our favor.”

The Bruins and Canadiens exchanged two goals each in the second; all of them came on the power play. Arvidsson’s tally came 1:45 into the second period, Geekie’s at 9:46.

Even with the Bruins’ power play clicking, their penalty kill ranks 31st since January 1 (63.6%). Cole Caufield was able to score two sharp-angle shots in the middle frame. 

Entering the game, Boston was 0-17-0 when trailing after two periods. That has since changed to 1-17-0. 

Fraser Minten scored the only Bruins goal at five-on-five, coming off a nifty backhand shot that beat Samuel Montembeault. 

“Lots of guys got backhands that they can use,” Fraser Minten said about utilizing his. “In situations where it’s there, it’s hard for goalies to read, so get it off, and sometimes it works.”

His goal generated momentum that the Bruins carried onto a power play that came eight seconds after the game-tying goal. 

“It was much better that we were tied in the game, honestly,” David Pastrnak said about hopping over the boards for that power play. “Big goal by Minty to tie the game. At that point, the confidence is really high. It may be a little different than if we [were] down a goal.”

Also helping the Bruins hold the fort down in the third period was Jeremy Swayman. He stopped 22 shots, including all nine in the third period, and recorded his 20th win of the season. 

“I know that we can play against any team,” Marco Sturm said about the Bruins’ recent wins. “After Dallas, a playoff team, [then] to come back, everyone was very disappointed. But again, to play almost the same kind of team, Vegas, and we beat them. Today, we had to beat a really good skill – high-end skilled, skating team; totally opposite of Vegas.”

“At the end of the day, we got to stick with our system and our structure. And rely on the power play, and goalies, and stuff like that we’ve been all year long.”

Also, Nikita Zadorov took an awkward fall near the end of the second period. He toe-picked the ice, and then his knee buckled after contact with Canadiens’ forward Zachary Bolduc. Zadorov did not put any pressure on his right foot upon skating off the ice and was aided by Fraser Minten and Andrew Peeke. 

He returned for the third period and skated in nine shifts during the final 20 minutes.

“I was really surprised when our trainer came, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, he’s going to try it,’” Sturm said. “It shows a lot that he came back. He was not 100%, I think we could all see. But you know, he was out there and battling hard for the guys.”

“I think so, as far as I know,” Sturm added when asked if Zadorov will travel to New York.

The Bruins left for New York City on Saturday night to avoid travel issues with the incoming snowstorm. They will square up against another Original Six rival when they play the Rangers (21-25-6) on Monday night.