Patrice Bergeron scored the deciding goal with 2:55 remaining and David Pastrnak finished with four points as the Boston Bruins came from behind for a 4-2 win over the host Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.
Four of the game’s six goals were scored in the third period, including the Boston captain’s eventual winner off a Pastrnak shot that also bounced off linemate Brad Marchand in the slot.
Pastrnak assisted on Boston’s first three goals before scoring an empty-netter himself with 49 seconds to play.
Taylor Hall and David Krejci also scored for the Bruins, who have won six straight games and moved to 17-1-3 in their last 21 and 9-0-1 in their last 10 on the road.
Boston became the fastest team to 80 points in NHL history as it improved to 38-5-4 on the season.
Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman made 20 saves and improved to 7-0-2 in his past nine starts.
In his 200th NHL game, Kirby Dach scored both Montreal goals to reach the 10-goal and 30-point marks in a season for the first time in his NHL career.
Krejci put Boston ahead for the first time at 2-1 with 10:15 left, deflecting Pastrnak’s shot from just inside the blue line past Montreal goaltender Sam Montembeault.
Dach evened the score again with 8:29 remaining by slotting home a backhand shot after Alex Belzile jammed the puck out of the crease and out to the circle before Swayman could cover it.
Montembeault was credited with 25 stops in his eighth consecutive start for the Canadiens, who had won three of their previous four.
Boston had an 11-7 shots advantage in a scoreless first period, including two on a Montreal power play midway through and a hard shot from Trent Frederic in the right circle that Montembeault denied during the late stages.
The Bruins had gone four-plus games without allowing a power-play goal before Dach tallied at 9:11 of the second period. Mike Hoffman’s slap-pass deflected off Evgenii Dadonov in front of Swayman and right onto Dach’s stick in the left circle.
Earlier in the middle frame, Montembeault made another highlight save on a Boston man advantage, moving across the crease to save a Pastrnak one-timer after an impressive passing sequence between Bergeron and Hall.
Boston leveled the score with 5:48 left in the second. After a Bergeron faceoff win, Hall broke a 16-game goalless drought by corralling the loose rebound of Pastrnak’s shot.
–Field Level Media