Bruins move into first place with 3-2 win over Canadiens

We have a long way to go in this - hockey season but here s a sentence the majority people didn t expect to hear even at this stage of the year Say hello to your first-place Boston Bruins The B s scored a gut-check - preeminence over the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Saturday night after losing Charlie McAvoy to a scary shot to the face in the second period and then Viktor Arvidsson late in the encounter In a match that was worthy of the ancient rivalry the B s took a - lead into the third period and were able to hang on for the win behind Jeremy Swayman s saves The B s got goals from Marat Khusnutdinov Mason Lohrei and Arvidsson and did a tremendous job on the penalty kill They took seven minors and had to kill off two lengthy -on- s in the challenge but managed to nail down the two points in regulation The win nudged the B s ahead of the Habs and the Senators for the top spot in the Atlantic Division The Bruins were the better organization for much of the edgy first period but they were fortunate to get out of it with the points tied - It seemed like both teams recognized that the dormant rivalry had a chance to get reignited from the beginning Off the opening faceoff Nikita Zadorov and Jayden Struble tossed their gloves aside and locked up for a tussle Struble gave away seven inches and about pounds and took more shots than he gave but he stayed on his feet and the Bell Centre crowd was loving it The locals didn t like it as much at when Arber Xhekaj squared off with Tanner Jeanot and Jeannot rapidly dropped him on the seat of his points with a right cross The B s created several excellent scoring chances and cashed one in at Zadorov had carried the puck into the offensive zone but sent it in the corner for what looked like Habs possession But Marat Khusnutdinov won it back along the boards and fed it back out high for Zadorov who sent it down low to David Pastrnak Pastrnak moved it back out to the left wing for Khusnutdinov whose shot ricocheted off a couple of bodies and into the wide open net for his third of the year There were chances for the B s to take full control of the meeting One blew up on them at Operating on the power play Pavel Zacha s backhand pass intended for Arvidsson went off his skate and the Habs took off on a -on- Jake Evans kept it and beat Swayman to the high short side Mark Kastelic put the Habs on the power play late in the period when tried to get Josh Anderson to fight after Anderson landed a check on Jonathan Aspirot but Anderson declined and Kastelic got tagged with a roughing minor Compounding that was a Zadorov tripping penalty giving the Habs a -on- for But the B s were able to kill off all the penalty time The B s had a strong start to the second period Sam Montembault made a good stop on a clean breakaway from Morgan Geekie But shortly after that off a faceoff Mason Lohrei beat him to the short side on a long distance wrist shot from the left point at Penalty trouble came back with a vengeance a little later in the period First Fraser Minten was called for holding and then after the puck drop McAvoy was nailed for slashing giving Montreal another -on- for And they killed that off too But the stripes weren t done Seconds after McAvoy came out of the box Zadorov was wheeling out of the zone and behind the play Hampus Lindholm was called for interference The B s killed that off as well but lost McAvoy when it he took a Noah Dobson shot to the face The defenseman needed particular assistance to get off the ice leaving a pool of blood behind him He did not return After surviving those hairy moments the B s certainly got a call with Jaraj Slafkovsky going for hooking On the advantage Zacha tried the same backhand pass to Arvidsson that led to the Evans shorthanded goal but this time it exposed its intended target Arvidsson for the veteran s sixth of the year th of his career with left in the period But they couldn t take that two-goal lead into the third On a -on- Jonathan Aspirot jumped into the play in the offensive zone but couldn t reach the puck Struble sent the puck up to Nick Suzuki at the blue line Zadorov tried to take away the pass but Suzuki was able to get it to Cole Caufield for the breakaway goal with left in the second The B s lead was down to a goal and they headed into the third to preserve it without their best defenseman