CANADIENS
Montreal

BRUINS
Boston

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Danault – Lehkonen
Galchenyuk – Drouin – Hudon
Byron – Plekanec – Gallagher
Deslauriers – De La Rose – Shaw
[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Benn – Jerabek
Alzner – Petry
Mete – Schlemko
[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders

Price
Niemi

Scratches

Daniel Carr, Byron Froese, Joe Morrow

Injuries

Ales Hemsky – concussion, Shea Weber – lower-body

Game Report 

It was a Saturday night contest between the Bruins and Canadiens, one of the best rivalries in sports. For a minute, Habs fans almost forgot about the dismal first half of the season. Almost.

The Canadiens opened the game well using their speed to befuddle the visiting Bruins. Max Pacioretty opened the scoring with an assist to Victor Mete, having returned from the World Juniors with a gold medal around his neck. Artturi Lehkonen made the play screening Tuukka Rask.

The Canadiens gave up a power-play goal before the end of the first period. David Schlemko thought it was a good idea to defend the same side of ice as Jordie Benn. It wasn’t. Paul Byron thought it was okay not to cover Brad Marchand. It wasn’t.

It didn’t take long for more Montreal miscues in the second period. If Nicolas Deslauriers continues to be a spectator on the ice, he will be doing the same thing in the press box. Jake DeBrusk was allowed to walk in all alone on Carey Price.

Deslauriers partially redeemed himself taking advantage of a slow-footed Zdeno Chara  as Rask gave up a soft goal less than three minutes later. Before the end of the second, Alex Galchenyuk ripped a shot into the back of the net for a power-play goal. The Bruins tied the game as Jakub Jerabek could not control the puck. David Krejci did.

It was an entertaining game with some of the intensity that has been missing from the Bell Centre most of the season. The buzz in the building did fall to a hush with Phillip Danault lying on the ice after being struck with a Chara 75-mph shot. Danault’s scan came back as normal but he will be kept overnight in hospital for observation.

The Canadiens will hold a public practice at the Bell Centre on Sunday as they prepare for a visit from the New York Islanders on Monday night.

~~~

▲  Carey Price, Alex Galchenyuk, Victor Mete

▼  David Schlemko, Jonathan Drouin

1. Brad Marchand  BOS
2. Alex Galchenyuk  MTL
3. Nicolas Deslauriers  MTL

• “That’s the only thing tonight — we didn’t get that puck luck.”
• “The news is good so far, and the plan is to keep [Phillip Danault] in hospital tonight and re-evaluate him [Sunday].”

Nicolas Deslauriers

• “There was a bad line change, but I made the mistake because I was focused on the puck and I let [Jake DeBrusk] get behind me.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com