The Montreal Canadiens scored five unanswered goals to start the game and secured a 5-2 road victory over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Thursday night.
Kirby Dach opened the scoring 2:34 into the first period with a wrap-around goal, assisted by Arber Xhekaj and Alex Newhook. Josh Anderson made it 2-0 at 8:36 with an even-strength wrist shot set up by Jake Evans and Mike Matheson. The Canadiens extended their margin early in the second period when Evans converted a wrist shot off an Anderson pass at 4:24.
Cole Caufield stretched the Montreal lead to 4-0 at 8:14 of the middle frame, scoring his 12th goal of the season unassisted on a wrist shot. Phillip Danault then drove a slap shot past Boston relief goaltender Michael DiPietro at 14:15, with assists from Zachary Bolduc and Alexandre Carrier. Casey Mittelstadt broke the shutout bid for the Bruins 38 seconds later, and he added his second wrist-shot goal of the night 53 seconds into the third period with assists from Elias Lindholm and Will Borgen to produce the final 5-2 margin.
Jacob Fowler earned the win in net for the Canadiens, stopping 30 of 32 shots. Boston starter Jeremy Swayman took the loss after allowing four goals on 17 shots through 28:14, while DiPietro made 13 saves on 14 shots in relief. Neither team scored on special teams, as Montreal went 0 for 4 on the power play and Boston went 0 for 1.
The victory moved the Canadiens to 12-3-4 on the season, giving them points in 12 consecutive games. The Bruins dropped to 13-5-1 and saw their four-game winning streak come to an end.
Both clubs play next on Saturday, November 14. The Canadiens host the Colorado Avalanche, while the Bruins host the Minnesota Wild.
