Frederic scores twice in Bruins win against Canadiens

BOSTON -- Trent Frederic scored twice for the Boston Bruins in a 5-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at TD Garden on Saturday.

David Pastrnak had three assists, and Jeremy Swayman made 20 saves for Boston (13-1-2), which has won four of its past five. Charlie Coyle and Brad Marchand each had two assists.

“I thought we played the right way for 60 minutes, the way we want to play,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “You’re going to give up scoring chances because you’re playing in the NHL and the other teams are good too.”

Juraj Slafkovsky had a goal and an assist, and Jake Allen made 39 saves for Montreal (7-9-2), which has lost four straight in regulation since a 3-2 overtime win against Boston on Nov. 11.

“We were definitely more aggressive last week, we definitely initiated a lot more things, were more in control,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “I think we forced them last week to be uncomfortable; they forced us tonight to be uncomfortable. They brought heaviness, and you know, they’re a good team collectively, so for us, it’s finding that game that we had against them before and keep striving for that.”

Charlie McAvoy gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 7:11 of the first period, scoring on a one-timer during a 5-on-3 power play.

Frederic made it 2-0 with 40 seconds left in the first, redirecting Brandon Carlo’s point shot out of the air and past Allen.

Pavel Zacha pushed it to 3-0 at 5:18 of the second period after his shot deflected off Canadiens defenseman Jordan Harris’ stick.

“I don’t think we ever let up the gas there,” Zacha said. “I think we just didn’t really give them much.”

Slafkovsky cut it to 3-1 at 13:04, finishing off Nick Suzuki’s feed from behind the net.

“I know what we’re capable of each and every night,” Suzuki said. “Recently, it hasn’t been there. Our start was pretty bad, they got [us] hemmed in our zone a lot. Took too many penalties against a really good team, and it cost us a lot.”

Frederic extended the lead again on a breakaway to make it 4-1 at 15:30, 12 seconds after he finished serving a high-sticking penalty.

“They just scored, so it was kind of not great timing on the penalty,” Frederic said. “Penalty is what it is, and you’re kind of sitting there, frustrated, and every time you’re in the box, you’re thinking you might get a breakaway. It’s never really happened, but you’re thinking what you’re going to do, and that’s kind of what I was thinking about.”

James van Riemsdyk made it 5-1 with a backhand power-play goal at 5:39 of the third period, and Montreal defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic followed up his own chance that snuck past Swayman at 15:29 for the 5-2 final.

“I just think early in the game, we made too many mistakes,” Kovacevic said. “Took too many penalties, myself included, and we weren’t able to get the penalty kill, so yeah, it was a tough one, I’d say. Probably more self-inflicted.”

NOTES: The Bruins have more than 50 wins in a calendar year for the 13th time in their history, the most among all teams and five more than the next-closest (Washington). … Pastrnak has 35 points in 27 games against the Canadiens. Pastrnak also tied Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes for the most three-point games this season (five). … Marchand became the eighth player in Bruins history to reach 500 assists. … Boston held a pregame ceremony honoring the ‘Big Bad Bruins’ era of the 1970s as part of their season-long centennial celebration. Members of the 1970 and 1972 Stanley Cup-winning teams raised their championship banners into the TD Garden rafters.