Patrice Bergeron had two goals and an assist for the visiting Boston Bruins in a 5-3 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday.
Erik Haula also scored twice, and Jeremy Swayman made 23 saves for the Bruins (49-25-5, 103 points), who are 4-1-0 in their past five games and have a three-point lead over the Washington Capitals for the first wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference. They’re also three points behind third-place Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division.
Josh Anderson, Mike Hoffman and Nick Suzuki scored for the Canadiens (20-49-11, 51 points), who have lost nine in a row. Sam Montembeault made 37 saves.
Bergeron gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 15:03 of the first period. Brad Marchand, behind the net, sent a backhand feed to Jake DeBrusk in front. Montembeault stopped DeBrusk’s shot but the rebound rolled to Bergeron at the top of the crease.
Haula made it 2-0 on a penalty shot at 18:03, beating Montembeault glove side after going back to get the puck after he whiffed on taking it as he started on his attempt. He was awarded the penalty shot when Hoffman slashed him on a breakaway after he intercepted his pass attempt inside the Boston blue line.
Anderson cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 1:51 of the second period. Jeff Petry sent a pass from the right circle into the slot, where it hit Brendan Gallagher’s stick before Anderson picked up the loose puck and backhanded it over Swayman.
Haula pushed it to 3-1 at 4:04, taking a feed from Tomas Nosek on the rush and pushing it into an open left side of the net.
Charlie McAvoy extended it to 4-1 at 18:09 from the top of the left circle off a faceoff.
Hoffman narrowed it to 4-2 on the power play at 3:13 of the third period with a one-timer from the top of the right circle just three seconds into the man advantage.
Suzuki fired one from the slot to make it 4-3 at 7:19.
Bergeron scored into an empty net with seven seconds remaining for the 5-3 final.
Before the game, the Canadiens honored Hall of Fame legend Guy Lafleur, who died Friday at the age 70, with a video tribute that was followed by a 10-minute ovation and chants of “Guy! Guy! Guy!” from the fans.
–Field Level Media
