Bruins Forward Drops Gloves In Defense Of Linemate In Loss To Canadiens

Bruins forward Cole Koepke dropped the gloves with Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle midway through the second period of Boston’s 4-1 loss to Montreal at Centre Bell on Thursday night.

The Black and Gold had a solid first period, even outshooting the Canadiens 8-7 in the frame. However, Montreal took control of the game just 40 seconds into the second period when Christian Dvorak buried his 11th goal of the season to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead.

Coupled with the early strike against the Bruins, Koepke took exception to the neutral zone hit Guhle laid on Fabian Lysell, who returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch Tuesday against the Washington Capitals, moments earlier in the period.

“I thought it was a big hit on Lysell, and they were taking it to us in the second period,” Koepke told reporters in Montreal. “I wanted to stand in for him, and then also, I thought it was a good time to try and get some energy for the team and kind of try and flip the script and get the game back even and get some pressure on them.”

Even though Koepke won the battle, his first wearing the Spoked-B, the Canadiens extended their lead to 2-0 when the Bruins got stuck up ice with a long line change that sprung Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield on a textbook 2-on-1.

The energy from the fight was short-lived. The Bruins gave up a pair of goals in the third period from Brendan Gallagher and Suzuki. Elias Lindholm tallied his 14th goal of the season to get Boston within two, but the empty-net goal from Suzuki with less than two minutes remaining in regulation secured the win for Montreal and the Bruins’ 10th straight loss.