Yes, the trade rumors have been circulating. Before the talks begin about changing up the roster, the focus was on a pretty important game instead....
March is slowly, but surely coming to a close and the Boston Bruins are more than happy to turn the page on this sub-par month. Although this should be nothing new for this team, but they have a history of somewhat playing below their capabilities in the third month of the year.
There is no need to jump ahead to the month of April just yet since Boston has three more games left before that day comes. The B's were on the ice Wednesday night against the Montreal Canadiens in what was the final home game of the month.
The realization that something special could happen every time these two rivals take the ice is unpredictable. Whenever you think a donnybrook or a goal-scoring spree will occur, the game disappoints. The same could be said if the opposite happened. When a game is played and nothing is expected to happen, the fans leave with a smile on their faces and their adrenaline would be through the roof.
One thing that was guaranteed for this game is that first place in the Northeast Division would go to the winner. Montreal was coming off of a loss on Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins, leaving both teams with 45 points entering this game.
Prior to the game, it was announced that the Bruins had claimed former Ottawa Senators forward Kaspars Daugavins off of waivers. Most likely, he will be sent down to Providence. Speaking of that, the B's recalled P-Bruins defenseman Torey Krug for this game. Whatever time he gets with the big club this season, it will be more of a showcasing than anything else. Whether he is trade bait or a future replacement, this kid has some skills.
Tuukka Rask was back in goal for the Bruins and he opposed Carey Price of the Habs.
In the first period, there were some fireworks that involved Andrei Markov of the Habs. He took liberties on David Krejci and the B's took notice as they finished their checks on him all game long. As for the play, the Bruins had trouble moving the puck and getting shots on goal. Montreal capitalized on Boston's early struggles and broke through with the first goal of the game. Long-time friend Michael Ryder had the tally for the Canadiens.
Gregory Campbell and Travis Moen each dropped the gloves with each other in the opening period, which was due to the hard-nosed tone set early in the game.
The Habs looked like they were in firm control of this game, especially after their power play goal by P.K. Subban to increase their lead. However, that sparked the Black and Gold to go on a tear. They scored four unanswered goals in the second period. Dougie Hamilton, Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron (power play), and Nathan Horton were the goal scorers for the Bruins. This all resulted from putting pressure on Markov and Price early on in the period.
Before the start of the third period, the Canadiens pulled Price in favor of backup goaltender Peter Budaj. Who would have thought that would have been the key move of this game? The Canadiens and Bruins alternated goals as the period went along. A key power play for the Habs (Aaron Johnson called for a delay of game) led to the game-tying goal with eight seconds left. The TD Garden became silent and the collective air was let out of the building.
The momentum returned to the building during the overtime, albeit a scoreless overtime, because the Bruins controlled much of the possession and got some quality scoring chances. However, the Bruins were blanked through six rounds of the shootout and Brendan Gallagher beat Rask for the lone goal. The Habs regained the division lead after this 6-5 shootout victory.
The Bruins will head back on the road for the weekend, starting on Saturday afternoon when they take on the Philadelphia Flyers.
Gold Star: Tyler Seguin (1 goal, 2 assists, plus-3 rating)...He was physical. He was productive. He was in control. He was the best player on the ice.
Black Star: Tuukka Rask...Five goals is five goals, no matter how many of them you can blame on your defensemen. He usually bounces back pretty well though.
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