Adam McQuaid skates away after the Canadiens extend their lead to 2-0. Photo credit: John Tlumacki, Boston Globe
Yikes. A dominating first period by the Habs where the Bruins were outshot 14-3 set the stage for a 5-1 failure at Gillette Stadium. Matt Beleskey kept the Bruins from being the first team to be shut out at the Winter Classic, and Ryan Spooner was absolutely robbed my Mike Condon with a tenth of a second left in the second period, but aside from that, scoring chances were few and far between.
Meanwhile, a porous Bruins defense let in 45 unblocked shot attempts, compared to the 35 unblocked shot attempts faced by Mike Condon.
David Desharnais kicked off the scoring early with a baseball swing at the puck in midair. The puck bobbled its way past Tuukka Rask, despite a valiant attempt by Joe Morrow to keep it out of the net. The score remained 1-0 until early in the second, when Paul Byron scored the first of two goals against the Bruins by jamming in the rebound from Brian Flynn's redirected shot.
Brendan Gallagher, playing his first game back since a broken finger (courtesy of Johnny Boychuk's signature slapshot), would be the next Canadien to score, converting yet another close-range shot after Max Pacioretty corralled the puck into the crease. Fun fact: The Bruins let the Canadiens fire 15 shots from the "home-plate" area of the rink, where a higher percentage of shots will go into the net. The Bruins only managed ten.
Matt Beleskey ended Mike Condon's shutout bid by tipping the puck in after Adam McQuaid's bullet shot from the blueline. Max Pacioretty, however, restored the Canadiens' lead to three with a 2-on-1 conversion, followed by Paul Byron with his second goal of the night, another rebound goal - this time after P.K. Subban's shot rang off the post.
After the game, Bruins players made several frustrated statements. Recurring words included: "unacceptable", "embarrassed", and "disappointing". Goalie Tuukka Rask just about summed it up, responding to a reporter who expressed sympathy on how disappointing the outcome was for the Bruins goalie: "I'd say more embarrassing than disappointing."
Meanwhile, a porous Bruins defense let in 45 unblocked shot attempts, compared to the 35 unblocked shot attempts faced by Mike Condon.
David Desharnais kicked off the scoring early with a baseball swing at the puck in midair. The puck bobbled its way past Tuukka Rask, despite a valiant attempt by Joe Morrow to keep it out of the net. The score remained 1-0 until early in the second, when Paul Byron scored the first of two goals against the Bruins by jamming in the rebound from Brian Flynn's redirected shot.
Brendan Gallagher, playing his first game back since a broken finger (courtesy of Johnny Boychuk's signature slapshot), would be the next Canadien to score, converting yet another close-range shot after Max Pacioretty corralled the puck into the crease. Fun fact: The Bruins let the Canadiens fire 15 shots from the "home-plate" area of the rink, where a higher percentage of shots will go into the net. The Bruins only managed ten.
Matt Beleskey ended Mike Condon's shutout bid by tipping the puck in after Adam McQuaid's bullet shot from the blueline. Max Pacioretty, however, restored the Canadiens' lead to three with a 2-on-1 conversion, followed by Paul Byron with his second goal of the night, another rebound goal - this time after P.K. Subban's shot rang off the post.
After the game, Bruins players made several frustrated statements. Recurring words included: "unacceptable", "embarrassed", and "disappointing". Goalie Tuukka Rask just about summed it up, responding to a reporter who expressed sympathy on how disappointing the outcome was for the Bruins goalie: "I'd say more embarrassing than disappointing."