Charlie McAvoy and Charlie Coyle each scored two goals to lead the Boston Bruins to a 6-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday at TD Garden. Boston established control early by scoring three goals in a span of one minute and 10 seconds during the opening period.
McAvoy started the first-period run at 11:45 with a wrap-around goal set up by Jordan Oesterle and Trent Frederic. David Pastrnak followed 55 seconds later with a backhand goal, assisted by Pavel Zacha and Morgan Geekie. Just 15 seconds after that, Coyle scored on a backhand shot with an assist from Mark Kastelic to give the Bruins a 3-0 lead. McAvoy expanded the margin 38 seconds into the second period by scoring an unassisted shorthanded goal on a backhand shot.
Montreal answered at 5:42 of the second period when Cole Caufield deflected a shot into the net off assists from Arber Xhekaj and Nick Suzuki. Coyle countered 21 seconds into the third period with a wrist shot assisted by Cole Koepke to make it 5-1. The Canadiens mounted a push behind a snap shot from Emil Heineman at 2:28 and Caufield second goal of the game on a wrist shot at 6:38, cutting the deficit to two. Koepke ended the comeback attempt with an empty-net wrist goal at 17:46.
Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman earned the win with 25 saves on 28 shots, while Cayden Primeau took the loss after stopping 24 of 29 shots. Neither team converted with the man advantage, as Montreal went 0 for 2 on the power play and allowed McAvoy shorthanded score, while Boston also finished 0 for 2.
The victory improved Boston to 12-11-3 on the season and gave the Bruins a 2-0 record in the regular-season series against Montreal, having also defeated the Canadiens 6-4 on Oct. 10. Montreal dropped to 8-13-3 and extended its losing streak to two straight games.
