The Canadian was not downgraded against the best team in the NHL, but he still suffered the loss.
Patrice Bergeron scored late in the third period, Jeremy Swayman made 20 saves and the Boston Bruins defeated Montreal 3-2 on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
Bergeron scored on a throwback, seconds after winning a faceoff in Habs territory.
The Canadian limited the Bruins’ chances for a long time, but the cream eventually came back up.
The Bruins (38-5-4) won their sixth straight game. They have suffered just one loss in regulation time in their last 20 outings (16-1-3).
Kirby Dach scored twice for the Canadian (20-25-3), reaching the plateau of 10 goals in a season for the first time in his career. In his eighth straight start, Samuel Montembeault made 25 saves, including several spectacular ones.
David Pastrnak scored an empty-net goal and three assists for the Bruins, who have won their last eight games against the Canadiens. David Krejci had a goal and an assist, while Taylor Hall also scored.
The Canadiens wrap up their five-game home stint on Thursday when they host the Detroit Red Wings at the Bell Centre.
The last word at the Bruins
The first period was rather quiet, which must have pleased the head coach of the Canadiens, Martin St-Louis.
The Bruins got their best chance just after passing a penalty. Montembeault, however, frustrated Brad Marchand.
Montembeault was backed up by defender David Savard a few minutes later to deny Marchand another goal. The Quebec goalkeeper also stole a certain goal from Trent Frederic thanks to a well-synchronized lateral move to his left.
At the other end of the rink, Swayman was lucky when a shot from Alex Belzile hit the post late in the period.
The Bruins threatened on the power play early in the second period, but Montembeault was spectacular to keep the score tied at 0-0. He managed his best save with his shield against Pastrnak, after a lateral movement to his right.
The Canadian finally opened the scoring on the power play after 9:11 of play in the second period. Dach scored on a one-timer after a Mike Hoffman cross pass was deflected by Evgenii Dadonov.
The Bruins responded with 5:48 left in the second period, also on the power play. Hall scored on a return, after Montembeault had stopped a Patrice Bergeron deflection into the slot.
Krejci then gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead at 9:45 of the final period, deflecting a long Pastrnak shot over Montembeault’s shoulder.
The Canadian did not wait too long before replying, creating the tie at 1:46 later. Dach took advantage of a comeback after a long shot from Justin Barron.
However, Bergeron gave the Bruins the win by scoring with 2:55 left in regulation.
Pastrnak added an empty-net insurance goal with 49 seconds left on the clock.