(Montreal) The Canadian played one last match of the season. Despite a decimated formation, he showed fighting spirit, but finally bowed.
David Pastrnak made the difference by scoring his 61st goal of the season in the third period and the Boston Bruins defeated the Montreal Hockey Club 5-4 Thursday night at the Bell Centre.
The Bruins thus improved their NHL records by winning a 65th game this season and inflating their collection to 135 points.
The visitors relied on most of their regulars, preferring to keep their momentum going as the playoffs approached. The Bruins have won their last eight games and suffered just one loss in their last 16 outings.
The Canadian put up a good fight, but ultimately just wasn’t up to snuff. He finished the season ranked 28th overall in the NHL.
Lucas Condotta, in his first game in the NHL, Nick Suzuki, Michael Pezzetta and Justin Barron hit the target for the Canadian (31-45-6). Samuel Montembeault stopped 16 shots.
Trent Frederic, Jake DeBrusk, Dmitry Orlov and Charlie Coyle scored the other goals for the Bruins (65-12-5). Jeremy Swayman stopped 31 pitches.
Condotta was recalled from the Laval Rocket in relief of Mike Hoffman, injured the day before against the New York Islanders.
It was almost natural for the Canadiens to lose a soldier during his last game of a season marked by countless injuries. Mike Matheson left the game in the second period with a lower body injury and did not return.
As for the Bruins, Patrice Bergeron only played the first period, as a preventive measure.
The Canadian will present its traditional end-of-season report on Friday morning.
Condotta stood out by scoring on his first appearance on the ice, at 3:27 of the first period. He capitalized on a bit of luck, as his shot leaped over Swayman and ricocheted twice before crossing the goal line.
The Bruins took advantage of a scramble by the Canadian in his territory to reply at 9: 19. Frederic did it twice before pushing a hand-in from Connor Clifton into the goal.
Montembeault looked bad as the Bruins took a 2-1 lead with 5:20 left in the first period. A shot from Charlie McAvoy deflected off target, but the disc returned to DeBrusk after giving against the boards. Montembeault never reacted to the shot from the Bruins forward.
The Canadian turned things around with two goals within 68 seconds in the second period.
Suzuki first deflected a Joel Edmundson shot into the goal at 7:16, as the teams went four against four. Then, Pezzetta took advantage of the generosity of Rem Pitlick to fire into a net dropped by Swayman at 8:24.
Orlov, however, allowed the Bruins to return to the locker room with the score tied at 3-3. He beat Montembeault with a perfect shot into the top corner of the net with 6:02 left in the second period.
Barron restored the lead to the Canadian after 69 seconds of play in the third period, moving the ropes shorthanded. Jake Evans returned the puck in front of the Bruins net after a two-on-one miss and Barron fired a hard slapshot.
The Bruins again tied the knot with 11:12 to go, when Coyle mocked Chris Wideman before beating Montembeault into the top.
Pastrnak then put the Bruins up 5-4 with 9:00 left on the clock. Installed at the mouth of the net, he only had to deflect a pass from Orlov into the opening to score.
Suzuki was the one who got the best opportunity to prolong the debate, but he missed an open net after a favorable jump from the boards.
