BOSTON | The 1970s Bruins won two Stanley Cups. They would certainly have won more if they hadn’t constantly bumped into the Canadian along the way.
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Last night at the TD Garden it seemed like we were witnessing a pendulum swing. In front of members of those two championship teams being honored before the game, the current Bruins gave Montrealers a hockey lesson.
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From the start we had the feeling that the locals weren’t going to let the Reds spoil the party again. The Bruins kept the Canadian in his territory virtually all night, pounding Jake Allen’s 44 shots into the net to win comfortably 5-2.
In the Canadian camp we were far from producing the kind of performance that allowed us to surprise the same team in extra time a week ago. The Canadian worked, but he worked crookedly.
Whether it was one-on-ones, body checks, turnovers or access to the opponent’s zone, Jim Montgomery’s troops had a real walk.
Hot chocolate for Jake Allen
This is the fourth straight loss the Habs have suffered since that upset win against the Bruins. At three of these four meetings, those who opposed the leadership formations were demoted.
A great proof that there is still a long way to go from hoping for big awards.
“It’s like a slap in the face. It doesn’t feel good, but sometimes that’s what it takes,” Mike Matheson said on the subject when he was back in the locker room.
It’s a shame that this slap in the face happened while the fathers of the Canadian players were there. It’s a bit embarrassing.
However, we don’t know if the fathers sat with their respective offspring on the plane that took them back to Montreal just to cheer them up.
In any case, Jake Allen was the only one who was entitled to hot chocolate. Without him, the slaps would have had the same effect as those handed out in combat championships. A discipline to discover if you are not yet familiar with it.
Step on toes
To try to change the position, Martin St-Louis made several modifications to his trios. Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki reunited after five meetings in different units.
We can’t say it was a great success, as the two accomplices only fired a total of two shots at Jeremy Swayman.
The Canadian head coach also decided to spread the members of his “Grey Heads” trio across three different units. Here too, the Canadian did not achieve the desired result.
Jesse Ylönen and Juraj Slafkovsky, supported by Sean Monahan, had a difficult evening. The two wingers stepped on each other’s toes for part of the evening. On several occasions they were on the same side of the ice in the defensive zone.
No wonder they noticed Allen’s scent more often than his counterpart’s. This despite both finishing with +1 and the Slovakian collecting two points, including his second goal of the season.