Bruins’ Meltdown Leads to Tough 5-1 Loss to Canadiens

The Canadiens’ centennial season has been one to forget. But Montreal hit a high note on Friday night at the expense of its most hated rival.

The Bruins headed into their matchup at the Bell Centre looking to avenge a 2-1 shootout loss earlier this season. Instead, they embarrassed themselves, falling 5-1 on a night in which the Canadiens closed out a 14-month celebration of their franchise’s history.

Mike Cammalleri tallied a natural hat trick, and Glen Metropolit and Jaroslav Spacek scored for a Habs team that looked far more like the team that victimized the Bruins in the 2007-08 playoffs than the team that has sludged its way through the past season and a half. Boston melted down in the second period, allowing four goals and three in the span of four minutes, while netminder Tim Thomas made 18 saves on 23 shots before being pulled in favor of Tuukka Rask in the third period.

Vladimir Sobotka tallied Boston’s only goal.

Montreal goaltender Carey Price was excellent against Boston for the second time this season, making 37 saves on 38 shots.

Canadiens 5, Bruins 1
Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec
Dec. 4, 2009

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Headliner: Mike Cammalleri cemented the Canadiens’ win midway through the second period when he scored right after the Habs finished killing off a 5-on-3 power play. But he really sealed the deal five minutes later when he tallied his second goal of the game and his 14th of the season, hooking the puck right under Tim Thomas’ leg. The goal put Montreal up 3-0 and further demoralized a Bruins team that couldn’t seem to find any offense all evening.

Cammelleri finished off the hat trick with 2:31 left in the second, completing a four-minute span in which the Habs tallied three goals.

Grinder: The Canadiens’ penalty kill did a good job pretending to be Boston’s successful penalty kill on Friday night, terminating each of the Bruins’ seven power plays to keep them off the board. The Montreal PK unit was particularly impressive when it stoned Boston on a 5-on-3 advantage early in the second.

Weak Link: The Bruins’ second-period effort was as horrendous as it gets. After going into the first intermission down 1-0 but essentially even with the Habs in every section of the box score, there was hope that the B’s would come out strong in the second frame and even the score at 1.

No such luck.

Instead, the Bruins failed on the 5-on-3 power play, quickly surrendered a goal to Cammalleri as soon as the man advantage ended, allowed him his second goal five minutes later, then allowed Metropolit to put the nail in the coffin with a tip-in from five feet out with four minutes remaining. The goal put the B’s down 4-0, and if that weren’t bad enough, Cammalleri struck yet again 1:22 later for his third goal of the period.

Key Moment: With about 13 minutes remaining in the second period, the Bruins were down 1-0 and had a perfect opportunity to even the score when they found themselves with a two-man advantage, after both Maxim Lapierre and Jaroslav Spacek headed into the box for roughing against Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara. Boston got off six shots on the power play but failed to score — and if the momentum hadn’t completely swung in Montreal’s favor at that point, it did less than a minute after the power play ended, when Mike Cammalleri’s wristshot from 19 feet eluded Tim Thomas, putting the Habs on top 2-0.

What’s Next: In case Friday’s game didn’t provide enough excitement for you, have no fear: Saturday’s reunion with Phil Kessel looms on the horizon. Last year’s goals leader returns to Boston for the first time since being traded away to Toronto before the start of the season, and the drama is on full-blast. Kessel has claimed publicly that he never demanded a trade or expressed any disdain for his situation in Boston, but those in Beantown certainly have their doubts.

Whatever the case, Boston has struggled to replace Kessel’s offense — and the Maple Leafs are definitely reaping the benefits. Despite missing a huge chunk of the beginning of the season, the right-winger has 10 goals, good for second on the team.

Prior to Friday’s action, 8-12 Toronto sat in last place in the Northeast Division standings with 23 points.