Charlies Are Wild in Bs First Game Against Canadiens

The Boston Bruins looked across the ice to see the Montreal Canadiens at TD Garden on Sunday night. This was the first game between these Original 6 rivals in 641 days, the result of the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to limit travel during the shortened 2020-21 season. Absence makes the heart grow fonder they say, but that doesn’t work in hockey, especially not in a rivalry such as the one between the Bruins and the Canadiens.

“It’s not one of 82 when it’s Montreal. It isn’t to me, anyway, and it shouldn’t be to anybody who knows anything about the Boston Bruins. Right? I even heard Nick Foligno talking about it in the room after. He’s new. But you know he’s got a father that participated in a lot of NHL rivalries, and he’s in one here. So no, there’s always more. I mean, yes, it’s one of 82 tomorrow. But it’s still the Montreal Canadiens and we want to beat them every time we step on the ice, and that’s the attitude we need to have around here,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy.

The first period saw the Bruins perhaps a little out of sync, with some incomplete passes and possible miscommunication. Oskar Steen had been recalled from the Providence Bruins and was slotted on the right wing of the third line with Jake DeBrusk and Tomas Nosek. Foligno, in his second game back from injury, was playing right wing on the second line with Taylor Hall and Charlie Coyle.

The Canadiens, despite being held together with spit and bailing wire as a result of 11 of their regular players out with various injuries, were doing a good job of getting in the way of the Bruins through the first period. Joel Armia earned his first goal of the season and put Montreal on the scoreboard. That one-goal lead carried into the first intermission.

During the first half of the second period Boston had a two-on-zero breakaway that was denied by Sam Montembeault. It was beginning to look like the Bruins couldn’t buy a goal. In fact, as the game progressed Montembeault stood tall between the pipes on many of the Bruins’ chances.

Charlie McAvoy tied the game as he charged hard at the net that not only saw him put the puck behind Montembeault at 8:27 of the second period but also saw him steamroll right over his teammate Foligno. Foligno didn’t seem to mind though, being the first player on the ice to hug McAvoy as they celebrated the goal.

Michael Pezzetta got his first goal of the season and gave the Canadiens back the lead at 16:25 of the second. It would have been nice to have seen a strong response from the Bruins after that goal, but once again Montreal went into the intermission with the lead. Statistics showed they had been unbeaten when leading after two periods while the Bruins had yet to win a game when trailing after two periods.

The Bruins had played a much better second period even if they didn’t have the lead. Despite the lack of push back after the Canadiens’ second goal it was anticipated that the Bruins would work hard in the third.

Jeff Petry was sent off for Montreal on a holding call early in the third. While on their fourth power play of the game, a power play that was 0-3, McAvoy made a strong shot from the high slot, 49 seconds into the man advantage, and once again knotted the score.

Coyle came along just shy of four minutes later and gave the Bruins their first lead of the game, when Petry’s attempt to clear Montembeault’s rebound bounced off Coyle’s head and into the net. The puck actually hit Coyle’s visor, but fortunately he was not hurt. Three minutes later, Coyle netted his second goal of the game with a nice top shelf shot as he was cruising across the crease.

It may have seemed that if your name was Charlie then you were destined to score, but in truth both McAvoy and Coyle had been putting rubber on Montembeault throughout the game. Coyle had four shots on goal while McAvoy had seven. Coyle was also an impressive 71% in the face off, having won 10 of 14.

Unfortunately, the Bruins once again find that they cannot ride this momentum into the next game, since their next game is six days away, but they can enjoy a solid win against their rival in what felt like a world getting closer to normal.