Montreal Canadiens rout Boston Bruins in NHL Winter Classic

The Montreal Forum was the Canadiens’ home for one of the most successful dynasties in professional sports.

Rask did not mince words evaluating a 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, an outcome that would have been worse if Rask hadn’t played so well in the first period, when the Bruins were outshot 14-3 and went 14:50 without a shot on goal. “It’s about hard work and grinding and Gallagher is one of the best on this team at getting there, getting in the blue paint, and getting those greasy goals”. The Florida Panthers now sit in second with 46 points. “Everything was so flawless, the ice, the weather, the fans”.

Chris Tanev scored a tying goal for the Canucks midway through the third period.

Boston remains at 44 points on the season, and is three points behind Montreal for first in the Atlantic Division with three games in hand. But (the Bruins) went though injuries as well. When you go to the net you get rewarded. Tuukka Rask was the big player for Boston in the first period. At least one of Mike Condon’s 27 saves was memorable. So it’s disappointing, and there’s 70,000 people here coming to see us play.

While Friday’s triumph may not technically carry any extra weight in comparison to other regular-season games, a road win over a rival in the NHL’s signature game could give Montreal the confidence it needs to regain a stranglehold on the Eastern Conference for the remainder of the campaign. It couldn’t have been easy for him recently when the team acquired goaltender Ben Scrivens in a trade, but Condon has played well the last few games.

“He’s under some pretty tight security, so I don’t think they would let a Montreal player into the Pats locker room”, he said. However, just about five minutes later Pacioretty put one in and gave Montreal another three goal lead.

The game ended with another small scrum which makes sense because the Bruins had to of been frustrated with their play.

The excitement of the big stage may have got to Boston. The 7-1-2 record to start his career; the 2-7-0 December that almost cost him the chance to start the Winter Classic, until two good starts solidified it. It is worth noting that the Eagles seem less likely to be hosting a playoff game in January of 2017 than the Steelers, so Lincoln Financial Field seems like it would be a safer pick than Heinz Field. So, “thumbs down” to those not so “special” teams of the Calgary Flames.

The Winter Classic was Gallagher’s first game since November 22. Boston winning in 2010 and the Washington Capitals winning in 2015 at Nationals Park were the only two times the home team has won. He’s now strung together consecutive wins for the first time since November after a 36-save performance against the Lightning on Monday, so Condon should earn himself some rope with head coach Michel Therrien over Ben Scrivens in the Habs’ crease with Carey Price (lower body) still sidelined.