Charlie McAvoy and Charlie Coyle each scored twice to propel the Boston Bruins to a 6-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday afternoon at TD Garden. Boston used a three-goal burst in a span of 1:10 during the first period to take control early and hold off a third-period push by the Canadiens.
McAvoy opened the scoring at 11:45 of the first period with a wrap-around goal before David Pastrnak made it 2-0 on a backhand shot at 12:40. Just 15 seconds later, Coyle converted on another backhand to cap the early scoring run and give Boston a 3-0 advantage. McAvoy expanded the lead 38 seconds into the second period with an unassisted, shorthanded backhand. Cole Caufield cut into the deficit for Montreal at 5:42 of the middle frame by deflecting home his 15th goal of the season.
Coyle scored his second goal of the contest 21 seconds into the third period with a wrist shot to push the Bruins ahead 5-1. Montreal responded as Emil Heineman snapped in a goal at 2:28, followed by Caufield scoring his second of the game on a wrist shot at 6:38 to trim the margin to 5-3. Cole Koepke ended the comeback attempt by scoring an empty-net wrist goal with 2:14 remaining in regulation.
Jeremy Swayman stopped 25 of 28 shots in net to secure the victory for the Bruins. At the other end, Cayden Primeau made 24 saves on 29 shots faced for Montreal. Neither team converted with the man advantage, as both clubs finished 0 for 2 on the power play while logging 16 penalty minutes apiece.
The win pushed Boston's record to 12-11-3 on the season and gave the Bruins a sweep of the two head-to-head meetings between the rivals so far this year. Montreal dropped to 8-13-3 and extended its current winless skid to two games.
