MONTREAL — John Moore scored a power-play goal in the third period as the Boston Bruins defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Saturday night in a hard-hitting and penalty-filled affair.
David Backes and Jake DeBrusk also scored for the Bruins (13-6-4) for their third win in four games. Tuukka Rask made 32 saves and David Krejci had two assists.
Jonathan Drouin and Tomas Tatar scored in the third period for the Canadiens (11-8-5), who have lost four games in a row for the first time this season.
Carey Price stopped 32-of-35 shots in defeat as he dropped to 3-5-2 since shutting out the Bruins 3-0 on Oct. 27.
Down 2-0, the Canadiens scored twice in the third period to tie the game before Moore scored the winner on the power play at 17:03. With Drouin in the box for high sticking, a double minor, Moore scored his first of the season from a tight angle.
Boston finished 1 for 6 with the man advantage while Montreal was 1 for 5. Both teams combined for 30 penalty minutes.
It was the second game of a back-to-back series for both teams. Boston beat Pittsburgh 2-1 in overtime on Friday while Montreal lost 3-2 in overtime in Buffalo.
The Bruins took a 1-0 lead at 13:01 of the first period when Backes swiped the puck from Jesperi Kotkaniemi at the Montreal blue line before beating Price glove side for his first goal of the season.
With the teams playing 4-on-4 hockey, Debrusk doubled Boston’s lead at 14:42 when he snuck behind defenceman Brett Kulak and tapped in a beautiful pass from Torey Krug.
Montreal had a goal disallowed 28 seconds into the third period when Artturi Lehkonen pushed the puck — and Rask — into the net.
Drouin got one back for the home team at 6:46 for his ninth of the season. Drouin beat Krug with speed in the Boston zone before squeezing a shot between Rask’s pads.
Tatar got the equalizer for Montreal on the power play at 10:09 of the third. With David Pastrnak in the box for slashing, Tatar took a pass from Andrew Shaw from behind the net and roofed a one-timer past Rask.
Notes: The Bruins were without the injured Zdeno Chara (knee) and Patrice Bergeron (rib). … It was the second of four meetings between the Canadiens and Bruins this season.
Kelsey Patterson, The Canadian Press
