Canadiens vs. Bruins Top Six Minutes: Montreal has lost the plot offensively

First period

• Right off the opening puck drop, Jayden Struble and the much bigger Nikita Zadorov drop the gloves. Each player landed some serious blows, and I’ll call that a draw.
• Samuel Montembeault passes the test of the first shot with a bread-basket save and no rebound.
• David Pastrnak beats Cole Caufield to the net on a rush, and only a wild spinning shot by the Bruins’ sniper on the rebound prevented Boston from going up one goal.
• Caufield is off to the box however, so the danger hasn’t passed yet.
• Nick Suzuki jumps on a rolling puck to not only get the zone exit on the PK, but a shot in a one-on-three situation that goes off Jeremy Swayman and then the post.
• A series of hits by Montreal, started by Zachary Bolduc nearly planting Tanner Jeannot in the Canadiens’ bench, leads to Jeannot and Arber Xhekaj dropping gloves. Jeannot scores the one-punch takedown.
• Jared Davidson comes out for his first NHL shift and tries to set up a high-danger chance for Joe Veleno before getting a shot himself.
• Montreal will get a chance with the power play after a couple of good offensive-zone shifts.
• The Bruins are leaving four penalty-killers on their blue line to prevent entries, and it’s working.
• Samuel Montembeault aggressively challenges Pastrnak on the right side of his net, and is completely out of the crease when Pastrnak instead passed the puck to Marat Khusnutdinov for an easy goal.
• Ivan Demidov tries to get the goal right back by setting up a shot for Lane Hutson, but the defenceman fires the puck off the post.
• Boston is back on the power play after a slashing call on Noah Dobson.
• Montembeault very nearly touched the puck to a Bruin for another goal like he did versus the Kings earlier this week.
• Jake Evans goes in a short-handed two-on-one with Mike Matheson. The Bruins don’t have anyone fast enough to catch them, so Evans glides in, sees that the passing option is being taken away and loads up a shot that ties the game.

Jake Evans ties the game shorthanded. Boy, did the #Habs need that

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— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) November 15, 2025 at 8:43 PM

• A bad turnover from the corner by Hutson goes right to the stick of Mikey Eyssimont, and Montembeault makes an important stop on a close-range shot.
• It’s not helping Montreal’s case at five-on-five that the Bruins interfere with every player who tries to get in on the forecheck.
• Caufield decides to just attack the phalanx the Bruins have set up, and Zadorov gets called for tripping him up. There will be 88 seconds — hopefully less — of five-on-three time.
• The power plays looked good, but the Bruins were disciplined to only allow three or four scoring chances. Just unfortunate they all missed the target.
• I don’t understand why they go more conservative with Dobson joining the unit when the opponent goes down to three men. That’s the time to be more aggressive.
• A decent period for Montreal, but they will need to win more battles at five-on-five if they’re going to win this game.

Second period

• Matheson tries to swipe at the puck instead of getting back with Morgan Geekie, and it ends with Montembeault having to make a save on a breakaway.
• A point shot from Mason Lohrei flutters into the net because Montembeault can’t pick those up. I don’t know how much more evidence we need that is eyesight isn’t good enough to see that far away. If teams catch on to that they’re going to start testing him from centre ice.
• Davidson gets the rebound as Brendan Gallagher’s shot spills a rebound out the side, but Swayman makes the save.
• Kirby Dach’s speed draws a hook as he drives right to the slot. He’s starting to get more comfortable making more aggressive plays.
• Ten seconds in, McAvoy slashes Juraj Slafkovský’s stick in half. A critical five-on-three.
• Again, Dobson comes out.
• Montreal made about 80 passes and got four shots.
• After watching all the puck movement for two minutes, Elias Lindholm runs a pick on Bolduc to knock him down, and Montreal is back on the advantage.
• A slapshot from Dobson glances off the body of Mark Kastelic and right to the teeth of McAvoy. He heads off to the Canadiens’ medical facilities.
• Montreal now holds the edge in shots, but has gone 16 power plays without a goal.
• Matheson breaks up a breakaway chance for Pastrnak coming out of the penalty kill.
• Slafkovský gets his stick into a Bruins defencemen deep in the offensive zone and will go off. No one can complain about the officiating in this game.
• It takes Boston 40 seconds to score on their one-man advantage. Matheson got caught well out of position and left Viktor Arvidsson unmarked in the slot.
• Davidson tips the puck in the slot and Swayman squeezes it in his armpit.
• Montreal gets a very important goal at four-on-four when Suzuki hits Caufield for a breakaway, and the Habs’ top scorer dekes to the backhand for the goal.

#Habs get one back. Long feed from Struble to Suzuki, he sends Caufield, and he he makes no mistake on the backhand.

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— Matt Drake (@drakemt.bsky.social) November 15, 2025 at 9:58 PM

• The Canadiens are within a goal, but those missed power-play chances could yet prove costly in this game.

Third period

• The Bruins hit the ice with a purpose, and Dach will sit to give the Bruins an early power play.
• Montreal got a chance coming out of the penalty kill, but Suzuki’s pass didn’t get through a closed-off lane.
• Montreal stuck with the play, however, and ended up putting Boston under pressure for a couple of shifts in a row, drawing another penalty.
• They may have been better off to just keep playing without the call being made, but we’ll see what they can do.
• Slafkovský gets the puck at the side of the crease, but can’t whack it in.
• I don’t get the point of Caufield as the bumper. He’s not much a screener, and that just limits the use of his shot.
• Another fruitless power play.
• Boston will now play with an extra man with Struble in the box for high-sticking.
• Boston’s power play is much more dangerous because Montreal only leaves one player down low, allowing for two-on-ones at the crease. It’s basically a diamond formation, and that’s the critical flaw with it.
• Montreal is getting the puck in the offensive zone, but not getting the shots they need.
• A pass goes awry as Khusnutdinov flies down the wall and clangs a shot off Montembeault’s shoulder and then the crossbar. The referee pointed for a goal, but when he realized no one else on the ice reacted, he waved it off about 10 times.
• Montreal pushes hard for a goal, and gets a few chances with Slafkovský at the top of the crease. Why St-Louis specifically removes him from five-on-three situations is beyond me.
• The Canadiens can’t get the third goal they need, and no longer sit in first place in the Atlantic.

EOTP 3 Stars

3) Just some odd personnel and formation decisions

2) Anything other than watching the game of keepaway

1) He might just stick around for a while