Marchand Delivers in B's Shootout Victory Over Montreal

MONTREAL- The Bruins made sure to kick off their season series against Montreal with a bang on Saturday night.
David Krejci tied the game late in the second period, before Brad Marchand scored in the fourth round of the shootout to send Boston to a 4-3 victory over the rival Canadiens at the Bell Centre. The win extended the Bruins' points streak to 12 games (9-0-3) and their overall record since Nov. 16 to 18-3-3.
"We seem to be able to show that character. We seem to have a lot of it in this room," said Marchand, who also potted his 18th goal of the season in the first period. "It was great to see the guys battle back, especially having a bit of a break there - we didn't have a great game. But we dug down and capitalized when it mattered. Good to get the two points."

Boston twice came back from one-goal deficits to tie the game. After Max Pacioretty opened the scoring just 3:22 into the first, Marchand responded with a power-play goal off a slick feed from Patrice Bergeron with 2:20 remaining in the opening frame.
"We didn't have our game early in terms of managing the puck. I think we were still on that little bit of a break mode where you're not bearing down and not hockey strong yet," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. "But we got better at that as the game went on. But we did enough early to not take ourselves out of the game."

Jake DeBrusk later converted on a breakaway with a snipe over the blocker of Carey Price at 2:55 of the second. But Montreal answered with two goals (from Nicolas Deslauriers and Alex Galchenyuk) just 3:06 apart to regain the lead, 3-2, midway through the period.
But the Bruins stormed back once again. With 2:18 to go in the second, David Krejci struck for his seventh of the year when he picked up a bouncing puck in the slot and snapped one by Price to knot things at 3.
"We were trailing a couple times tonight. Against Montreal in Montreal, it's tough to come back from," said DeBrusk. "But we have great leadership with our older guys and the veterans here really show us the way and how to get back. It was a team effort. Lots of guys did things to help us win tonight."
Montreal nearly ended things with some 20 seconds remaining in overtime, but stellar sprawling saves from Tuukka Rask and Torey Krug kept the Bruins alive. As time ticked away, Krug swatted away a loose puck in the crease, before Rask dived through the blue paint to deny Tomas Plekanec's follow-up attempt.
"We got better throughout the 60 minutes," said Rask, who extended his personal points streak to 14 games (12-0-2). "It wasn't our best start, best first period. But we hung in there…I don't think anyone was rattled. We were just trying to play our game."

More observations from the Bruins' 4-3 shootout win over the Canadiens:
Bruins send thoughts to Danault: In a frightening scene late in the second period, Montreal forward Phillip Danault was struck in the head with a Zdeno Chara slapshot. Danault was down on the ice for several minutes before being stretchered off and transported to a local hospital, where the Canadiens said he was awake and moving.
With 1:37 remaining in the second, the teams retreated to the dressing rooms and played the rest of the frame following the intermission.
"I was hoping that he was not hurt," said Chara. "That's obviously the first thought that goes through my mind…it does happen, it's just very unfortunate. We all get hit somewhere in the upper body. On that particular play I was getting a pass up the boards and the puck probably was bouncing a little bit, so very unfortunate.
"You don't ever want to see anyone get hit in the head area or the neck area and being carried off the ice. Hopefully Phillip will have a good recovery…wishing him the best and full recovery."

Chara was among the last people to leave the ice as he waited until Danault was transported to wish him well.
"I wanted to be there. I wanted to talk to him. I felt bad, obviously, that he got hit," added Chara. "I wanted to make sure he was OK and he responded…he was talking to me and responded, so that made me feel better that he responded and he was OK…I was glad he was doing OK."
DeBrusk makes most of Montreal debut: DeBrusk took full advantage of his first trip to the Bell Centre for Bruins-Habs. The rookie winger potted a filthy breakaway tally early in the second period to give Boston a 2-1 lead, before notching another goal in the second round of the shootout.
"It's pretty special. [Carey Price is] one of the best goaltenders in the game. You don't get chances like that very often," said DeBrusk. "Obviously a shootout's a shootout, but it was nice to see those go in. It was one of those things that he's a pretty intimidating goalie to play against and you've got to bring your best.
"Obviously I got lucky tonight and I think that it was just how the game was going….two breakaways and something that I'll never forget."

Bruins downplay showdown with Julien: While Saturday night's matchup marked the first between the Bruins and former coach Claude Julien, the players chose to focus more on what was happening on the ice than the storylines off of it.
"I was playing against the Montreal Canadiens, not against Claude," said Chara. "We all know that these games are big games and they mean a lot."