This is the culmination of the Boston-Montreal rivalry, today’s game commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Boston Bruins’ inaugural game, a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Maroons on Dec. 1, 1924, at Boston (Matthews) Arena.
As I acknowledged in my column following yesterday’s festivities, this is most definitely the final public gathering of the Big, Bad Bruins of 1967-72, a magical era that resulted in the building of over 30 community rinks across Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Hockey had long been an important piece of seasonal recreation and sports in New England, but the Big Bad’s led by Bobby Orr, impacted the region like no other professional sports team before or since. I was a Boston fan growing up, Sox, Celts and Pats included.
The ceremony was fabulous.
Cayden Primeau leads the Montreal Canadiens out for pregame warmups, followed by Jeremy Swayman once again for the Bruins, who are wearing a tweaked version of their old-Garden 1974-95 variations, albeit marrying the uniformity of their arm and sock stripes present in the current uniform since 2017 (I think).
This is far better than the regular uniform for a couple of reasons, one being the gold B/gold rim/black spokes against the black sweater. Also because the bottom gold stripe goes to the bottom of the sweater rather than black against black. They also restored the wide stripe on the breezers, albeit in gold rather than white. The suspicion here has long been that, when the Philadelphia Flyers abandoned their plain black breezers for the CCM version of “cooper-all’s,” Harry Sinden pounced on the opportunity to get the gaudiness of that stripe out of the uniform. Shoulder bears (even the new monument bear) would have looked good on this version, but the one-sided Rapid7 is the lone wrinkle.
The Bruins warm up the gametime crowd with Bobby Orr waving the banner and the giant version of it gliding across uplifted hands in the Loge sections.
FIRST PERIOD
Charlie McAvoy ends a stretch of the Habs outplaying the Bruins with a nice wraparound goal 11:45 into the game to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
David Pastrnak, who was stopped earlier in the period on a wide-open look, connects from the right circle to make it 2-0 at 12:40.
Mark Kastelic whacks away, and the puck is in behind Primeau 15 seconds later, 3-0 Boston. Martin St. Louis takes his one and only timeout.
SECOND PERIOD
Nikita Zadorov to the penalty box for delay of game, and only 13 seconds later, Charlie McAvoy converts a clean breakaway at 38 seconds of the second period, 4-0. Primeau stays in the Montreal net.
Bruins get the kill, Zadorov back out.
Arber Xhekaj from Cole Caulfield gets Montreal onto the board at 5:42, 4-1.
Xhekaj and Kastelic almost go after Lane Hutson stuck out the leg on a Boston forward. Hutson to the box and Xhekaj (who took a poke at Trent Frederic) and Kastelic get 10-minute misconducts to go with their roughing minors. Message to players: No, you’re not having this fight on our watch.
Beaucoup chances for the Bruins on the PP, the first forfeited when Pastrnak forced a pass when he was bearing down into the shooting lane, stick inside. Habs read it like a book. Morgan Geekie in a similar spot shoots the puck, save Primeau … Montreal gets the kill.
So the Bruins, for the first time since their home opener (Oct. 10 vs. Montreal), take a 3-goal lead into second intermission.
THIRD PERIOD
Now this: The Bruins, for the first time since their home opener (Oct. 10 vs. Montreal), score a third-period goal on home ice. Charlie Coyle with a deft finish off Cole Koepke’s feed, stuffing the puck inside the near post just 21 seconds into the third. 5-1.
Emil Heineman (not a Finnish cousin of Danton Heinen) comes right back for Montreal at the 2:28 mark, making it a 5-2 game.
If Game 4 of the Bruins’ opening-round, seven-game ouster of the upstart Hartford Whalers should tell us, it ain’t over …
Right after Trent Frederic held onto the puck and shot but was blocked, Caulfield holds on to avoid traffic and finds space between Swayman’s legs to make it 5-3 with 13:22 remaining.
Marchand to the box for slashing at 9:46, so at the midway point of the third period the visiting Canadiens have themselves quite an unexpected opportunity to turn this one into a nailbiter.
Solid powerplay for Montreal. The first scramble around Swayman didn’t end until Pavel Zacha pushed Mike Matheson into the Boston net. A late scramble was less eventful. The Bruins get the kill.
Hutson back to the box after losing his stick and hanging onto McAvoy. Bruins to the powerplay.
With 7:13 remaining in regulation, this game has eight goals, none via the powerplay.
The Habs get an important kill with 5:01 remaining. Bruins still up by 2, but Coyle lost possession on another skate-edge moment while changing direction, the kind of play that has haunted him this season. The Bruins survive the ensuing rush.
2:46, Primeau to the Montreal bench with the draw in the Boston zone.
Koepke ices it with 2:14 left. 6-3 Bruins.
Drive safely.
The Red Wings are here Tuesday night.
Rink Rap with Mick Colageo 