Bruins Live Blog: B’s Hold On for 3-2 Win Over Canadiens at TD Garden

Final, Bruins 3-2: Fittingly, Patrice Bergeron, who had a real strong game, gets the game-winning clear, as he’s able to send the puck the length of the ice to seal a Bruins win.

Third Period, 19:46, Bruins 3-2: The Habs put some pressure on in the final minute, forcing the Bruins to ice it. Montreal gets a face-off in the Boston zone with the extra skater on.

Third Period, 18:46, Bruins 3-2: The Canadiens pull Carey Price, and it pays off as Erik Cole gets a greasy goal late while driving to the net.

The goal was reviewed, but it stays.

This one isn’t over quite yet.

Third Period, 14:14, Bruins 3-1: There’s the insurance goal the Bruins and the Bergeron line were looking for, as Brad Marchand scores one of the prettiest goals of the season.

Marchand scored an incredible backhanded goal from a darn tough angle, while he was falling to the ice no less.

Give the assists to Patrice Bergeron and Tyler Seguin as a loud “Carrrrey, Carrrey” chant breaks out among the TD Garden crowd.

Third Period, 12:45, Bruins 2-1: The Bruins get more scoring opportunities out of Patrice Bergeron’s line, but for now, they’re unable to get the insurance goal.

The line’s best chance came when Bergeron found Tyler Seguin from behind the net, but Carey Price was able to get just enough of the puck to avoid being low to his stick side.

Minutes later, Price goes post-to-post to turn away a Nathan Horton one-timer. Horton was set up on a pretty pass from Zach Hamill, but Price was able to turn it away.Third Period, 8:20, Bruins 2-1: The Bruins are able to kill off the Zach Hamill penalty thanks in part to some hustle from Gregory Campbell and solid play from Tim Thomas.

The Bruins have to be happy to have Campbell back and killing penalties, especially when he’s diving on the ice to help clear the zone.

Third Period, 5:44, Bruins 2-1: Zach Hamill, who has seen plenty of ice time in this one, is called for cross-checking Chris Campoli.

It looked like Campoli may have helped it along a little, but regardless, the B’s are left to kill off a penalty while holding the one-goal lead.

Third Period, 2:27, Bruins 2-1: The Bruins come out and tilt the ice a little bit in the second period, as they try a few times to jam home an insurance goal on Carey Price to open the period.

Montreal just took its timeout to try and regroup some.

Second Intermission Notes: Through two periods, the Bruins hold a 2-1 lead, but it hasn’t been their best brand of hockey so far.

The B’s have turned the puck over probably a few too many times for Claude Julien’s liking (with a few coming in their defensive zone/neutral zone). However, the Canadiens haven’t been much better in terms of puck control, and they haven’t cashed in on any of the Boston mistakes.

The B’s do hold an edge in shots at 20-18, and they’re still winning the face-off battle, but the Habs had a much better showing in the second. That’s thanks in part to the work of Tomas Plekanec who’s 10 of 13 in the dot to go along with scoring the lone Montreal goal.

End of Second Period, Bruins 2-1: The Bruins turn in what could be described at best as a pedestrian effort on the Leblanc double-minor.

The Boston power play attack wasn’t able to muster much on the man advantage, and the best chance came when Rich Peverley made a nice pass across the slot to Nathan Horton. However, Horton whiffed on the one-timer attempt, and nothing comes of it.

The Bruins will, however, still have 23 seconds of power play time when the third period begins.

Second Period, 16:23, Bruins 2-1: The Bruins go back on the power play, as more sloppy defensive zone play from the Habs leads to a Louis Leblanc high-sticking penalty. It apparently drew blood, as Leblanc was assessed a 4-minute double minor.

Second Period, 13:35, Bruins 2-1: The Bruins’ power play comes and goes without a tally, but they did come real close.

This time it’s the B’s turn to be denied by the iron, as a Zdeno Chara shot from the point clangs off the post to Carey Price’s right. It may have been tipped in front by Benoit Pouliot. Regardless, it didn’t go in the net, and Montreal is back to even strength.Second Period, 11:24, Bruins 2-1: No fights or anything of the like yet, but things are getting a little chippy. Most recently, it was Rich Peverley and Travis Moen getting tangled up in front of the Montreal bench. The linesman stepped in as the play moved up ice and escorted Moen to the Montreal bench.

Also, the B’s pick up their first power play of the night as Josh Gorges goes to the penalty box for two minutes on a interference call.

Second Period, 8:38, Bruins 2-1: Some sloppy play from the Bruins, and it comes from two really unexpected places.

First, Zdeno Chara’s pass out of his own zone intended for Patrice Bergeron is broken up and deflected into the Bruins’ zone.

From there, Tim Thomas skated out in an attempt to clear it. He didn’t get good wood on it, and it ultimately ended up in a Petteri Nokelainen wrist shot from the right dot. The shot beat Thomas, but it couldn’t beat the post as it run iron for a near miss.

Second Period, 6:29, Bruins 2-1: Good momentum for the Bruins after what can best be described as a decisive penalty kill in which they really controlled the puck more than the Canadiens did.

Horton is out of the box and teams are back at even strength.

Second Period, 3:50, Bruins 2-1: Nathan Horton goes off on a hooking call, the first penalty of the night for either side.

Second Period, 2:42, Bruins 2-1: The Bruins take a 2-1 lead less than 3 minutes into the second period, thanks to a poor clearing attempt from the Canadiens and a headsy play from Andrew Ference.

A weak Montreal clearing attempt was cut down by Ference who came pinching down from the blue line. Ference took the puck down the left side before dishing to David Krejci in front, and Krejci had it go in off his skate.

The goal was reviewed, and it sticks to give Boston a 2-1 lead.

First Intermission Notes: As we mentioned, things were pretty even in the first period, except for in the face-off dot.

The B’s won 11 draws to the Canadiens’ five in the first period, and the lone Boston goal was the direct result of a dominating face-off win.

Benoit Pouliot may have scored the Bruins’ goal, but it was Rich Peverley’s decisive face-off win that set up the goal.

Unsurprisingly, the line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Tyler Seguin was real solid for Boston in the first, aside from being on the ice for the Montreal goal. Bergeron in particular had a couple of decent chances in the opening period.

End of First Period 1-1: And with that, a pretty even first period comes to a close.

The two teams are tied on the scoreboard, and they’re also even in shots on goal with nine shots apiece.

First Period, 18:44, 1-1: Carey Price gets something of a break as Patrice Bergeron can’t bang home what looked to be a fine scoring chance late in the first period.

The puck looked to hit someone in front of the net, as Bergeron came gliding through the slot. He certainly had a lot of net to work with.

First Period, 13:26, 1-1: Just like that, Montreal ties things up.

Tomas Plekanec takes it through the neutral zone into the Bruins zone where he was able to get off a backhand that was stopped by Tim Thomas. The B’s goalie couldn’t corral the rebound, and Plekanec continued on behind the net and into the slot where Michael Cammalleri found him as Plekanec was able to get his seventh goal of the season.

First Period, 12:13, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins strike first, and of course, it’s a former Canadien getting the scoring going.

Benoit Pouliot scored his sixth goal of the year after Rich Peverley won a face-off and slid a pass across the slot for Pouliot to bury past Carey Price.

The play was set up after the Canadiens had to ice the puck thanks to Joe Corvo who pinched down from the blue line to halt a clearing attempt by P.K. Subban.

First Period, 10:48, 0-0: First instance of any sort of pushing and shoving comes halfway through first period when Max Pacioretty comes in a little late on Tim Thomas. Immediately he gets to have a chat with a host of guys in Black and Gold.First Period, 6:27, 0-0: Pretty good pace early on from the Garden, with the B’s getting a couple of early chances.

Tim Thomas hasn’t really been tested at the other end yet, but he did make a nice glove save on a streaking Erik Cole a couple of minutes ago

First Period, 2:15, 0-0: We’re under way from the Garden.

Bruins get a couple of early chances, as the line of Benoit Pouliot, Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley has some good jump during their first coupld of shifts.

6:40 p.m.: The Bruins and Canadiens are still on the ice for warmups, and here’s all we really know thus far about what the B’s are doing with their lineup.

Gregory Campbell is playing for the first time since fracturing his foot last week in Columbus. Milan Lucic, who was suspended for a game earlier Monday, is obviously not on the ice.

From there, it gets a little dicey as Jordan Caron and Zach Hamill are both on the ice for pregame warm-up.

It did look like Daniel Paille had moved up to skate on the top line with David Krejci and Nathan Horton. Hamill appeared to be skating with Shawn Thornton and Gregory Campbell on their line, so it looks like it will be Caron who will be out. We obviously won’t know for sure for a few minutes.

Steven Kampfer may be the odd man out on the Bruins blue line, though he did skate in pregame. Also, it looks like P.K. Subban will be in for Montreal.

As expected, Tim Thomas and Carey Price are in goal.

Oh, and for what it’s worth, the Bruins are wearing their alternate third jerseys tonight.

6 p.m.: The Bruins will host the Habs in a about an hour, but they will do it without Milan Lucic.

Lucic learned Monday afternoon that he was suspended for one game for his hit from behind on Flyers forward Zac Rinaldo on Saturday.

The Bruins have yet to determine the status of Gregory Campbell, who has missed the last three games with a fractured foot but returned to practice on Sunday. He’s a game-time decision.

The Canadiens may be without P.K. Subban, who is sick and missed the morning skate. Montreal will have Travis Moen back after he missed two games with a lower-body injury. Montreal also has old friend Tomas Kaberle, who has refound his game a bit since being traded from Carolina. Kaberle has 0-5-5 totals in four games with the Canadiens, and his ex-teammates in Boston are happy to see him enjoying some success again.

8 a.m. ET: After winning both games of a quick two-game road trip, the Bruins return home to face arch-rival Montreal on Monday.

Boston pulled even with Philadelphia for the most points in the Eastern Conference after Saturday’s 6-0 rout of the Flyers. That followed a 5-2 win in Ottawa on Wednesday and stretched the Bruins’ latest win streak to four games.

Overall, the Bruins are now 18-2-1 in their last 21 games, a stretch that began after a humbling home-and-home sweep at the hands of the Habs at the end of October. They exacted some revenge with a 1-0 win in Montreal on Dec. 7, but the Bruins can never get enough of beating the Canadiens and will be looking for another victory at the Garden on Monday.

Montreal, meanwhile, comes in with a new man behind the bench. Randy Cunneyworth took over on Saturday after Jacques Martin was fired, and the Habs are hoping the change will get their season back on track.

The puck drops at 7 p.m., so check back here for updates on all the action.