MONTREAL — Brendan Gallagher had a goal and an assist as the Montreal Canadiens blanked the Boston Bruins 4-1 in a heated rivalry matchup Thursday night.
Cole Caufield — with his team-leading 35th — and Christian Dvorak also scored while Nick Suzuki added an empty-net goal for Montreal (36-30-9), which won its third consecutive game amid a playoff race. Sam Montembeault made 18 saves.
Elias Lindholm replied for Boston (30-37-9) in the third period to ruin Monteambeault’s shutout bid. Jeremy Swayman stopped 27 shots
The short-handed Bruins extended their winless streak to 10 games (0-9-1) for the first time since 2009-10. They also lost for the seventh consecutive game in regulation, which hadn’t happened since 1996-97.
Montreal held on to the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. Boston, meanwhile, remained last in the East, one point behind the Buffalo Sabres.
The game featured several hard hits and scrums after the whistle between the longtime Original Six rivals. Tensions boiled over when Montreal’s Kaiden Guhle fought Boston’s Cole Koepke with six minutes remaining in the second.
Takeaways
Canadiens: The third line of Dvorak, Gallagher and Josh Anderson keeps making an impact. The trio has combined for 13 goals in the last 10 games, including five from Dvorak, who scored his 11th of the season Thursday.
Bruins: Swayman kept the Bruins in it with several high-end saves. The Canadiens dominated the shots 17-2 in the second period. Boston recorded its first shot with 6:28 left in the frame.
Key moment
Swayman had a save-of-the-year candidate early in the second period. After stopping a point shot from Mike Matheson, he stretched across his crease and lifted his glove just in time to deny Alexandre Carrier a surefire goal on the rebound.
Key stat
Suzuki became the first Canadien to reach the 80-point mark since Alex Kovalev in 2007-08. Suzuki out-waited Henri Jokiharju on a 2-on-1 before setting up Caufield with a beautiful feed to collect his 80th point before adding his 81st with the empty-netter.
Up next
Canadiens: Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday to wrap up a three-game homestand.
Bruins: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.
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