(Montreal) The Canadiens players did try to honor Guy Lafleur, but the challenge was simply too great.
Posted at 10:13 p.m.
Erik Haula scored two goals, Patrice Bergeron had two goals and an assist and the Boston Bruins defeated Montreal 5-3 on Sunday night at the Bell Centre.
The Canadian was back in his home for the first time since the death of Lafleur on Friday. Lafleur succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 70.
The spectators reserved a standing ovation of more than nine minutes for the “Blonde Demon”, but the Bruins then played a nasty trick on them.
The Habs thus suffered a ninth loss in a row.
Josh Anderson, Mike Hoffman and Nick Suzuki hit the target for the Canadian (20-49-11). Jeff Petry had two assists and Samuel Montembeault stopped 37 shots.
Charlie McAvoy was the Bruins’ other scorer (49-25-5). Brad Marchand had two assists and Jeremy Swayman made 23 saves.
Forward Laurent Dauphin and defender William Lagesson were added to the Canadiens’ lineup for this matchup, taking over from Ryan Poehling and Chris Wideman.
The Canadian will play his next game on Wednesday, when he visits the New York Rangers.
Called up urgently before the game on Sunday, goaltender Cayden Primeau will accompany the team to New York and Carey Price will not. Interim head coach Martin St-Louis said before the game that Price was enjoying a little rest, but was preparing in hopes of playing the last game of the campaign, Friday at the Bell Center against the Florida Panthers.
Not the desired party
The players didn’t seem too numb after the long standing ovation for Lafleur before the game.
Several good shoulders were distributed in the first period, while we felt that the rivalry between the two teams still existed today.
The Bruins finally opened the scoring after 15:03 of play. Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk’s efforts around the net allowed Bergeron to score in an open net.
The visitors came back with 1:57 to go in the first period. Haula scored on a penalty shot, after a generous call from the referee. The latter cracked down on Hoffman, who seemed to have managed to redeem his blunder by stealing the puck from Haula.
The Canadian closed the gap after just 1:51 in the second period. Anderson took advantage of a scrum in front of Swayman’s net to slip the puck under the Bruins goaltender’s right pad.
The celebrations were short-lived, as the Bruins quickly restored their two-goal lead 2:13 later. Haula scored after a two-on-one attack.
The Canadian wasted precious time on the power play afterwards and the Bruins made him pay for his lack of opportunism by bringing the score to 4-1 with 1:51 to go in the second period. McAvoy surprised Montembeault after Bergeron won a face-off in Habs territory.
Hoffman finally gave the Canadiens a second wind by scoring on the power play after 3:13 of play in the third period.
Suzuki then closed the gap to just one goal at 7:19, when he was alone in the slot and was able to beat Swayman with a low mitt side shot.
Despite the “Guys! Guy! Guy! from the spectators during the last moments of the game, the Habs were unable to complete the comeback. Bergeron closed the books by scoring in an empty net with 6.6 seconds left.