Winners of two straight, the Montreal Canadiens were back on home ice for a Thursday night tilt with their historic rivals, the Boston Bruins. Lately, the teams have been going in completely different directions, with the Bruins sliding to dead last in the Eastern Conference, while the Habs came into the game still holding on to the final wild card spot. Still, knowing how the Habs have seen their play fall off significantly against non-playoff teams lately, there was some concern they would end up being a slump buster for their rivals.
That didn’t happen, as the Habs dominated the Bruins in a 4-1 win, thanks in large part to some secondary scoring from the likes of Christian Dvorak.
Puck bouncing all over the place, nobody can take it, and Christian Dvorak swoops in for a goal.
— Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) April 4, 2025
1-0 #Habs pic.twitter.com/XI1J9dicK9
This goal was quite important, because Jeremy Swayman was essentially a brick wall in the second period. The Habs played well enough to have five or six goals in that frame, but left it with the above marker being only one of two. Dvorak came in clutch, finding a loose puck that nobody seemed able to corral, sending it into the net during a period where it felt like they needed a miracle for the puck to get past Swayman.
Dvorak now has 10 points over his last 10 games. This stat line of course is helped greatly by a four-point night against the Senators on March 18, but he’s been steadily contributing at least a point on most nights over that span. Being over-reliant on their top line has been a known issue for the Habs this year, and he’s showing that they can get some clutch production elsewhere in the lineup.
There has been plenty of reason for folks to be down on Dvorak at various points in the season. Like some of his teammates, however, he has turned it up since the Four Nations, playing some of the best hockey he ever has in a Habs uniform. If he can keep that going through the final eight games, it takes some pressure off the top line to do all of the scoring, and gives this team the bite in the bottom six that it needs to finish the job and get into the playoffs.
It could also have an effect on his future, as he’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Wherever he ends up signing, if he helps this team make the playoffs, and plays like he is now once they’re in, it could help him a fair bit in negotiating that next deal.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll be back for this weekend’s back-to-back, which starts on Saturday night against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre.
