BOSTON, Mass. — Montreal built a five-goal cushion and held on to beat the Bruins 5-2 in Boston on Thursday night, snapping Boston’s four-game win streak and sliding past the Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division.
The Canadiens had come into the night one point back of Boston. Kirby Dach opened the scoring on a wraparound 2:34 in, and Josh Anderson and Jake Evans each finished with a goal and an assist as Montreal pushed the lead to 4-0 midway through the second period. Cole Caufield added his 12th of the season and Phillip Danault scored the fifth.
Bruins coach Marco Sturm pulled goalie Jeremy Swayman after he gave up four goals on 17 shots. Michael DiPietro came on and stopped 13 shots.
It was the first time all season Boston changed goalies in the middle of a game.
Boston answered only after Danault’s one-timer from the right circle made it 5-0. Thirty-eight seconds later, Casey Mittelstadt beat Fowler with a backhander off a feed from Elias Lindholm for his sixth goal of the year.
Mittelstadt struck again in the opening minute of the third, cleaning up a rebound after Will Borgen and Lindholm had shots turned away, to pull Boston within three. That was as close as it got. The Canadiens blocked 23 shots on the night, and Fowler finished with 30 saves even though the home team held a 32-30 edge in shots.
The longtime rivals still have three more dates on this season’s schedule after Thursday. The Bruins stay home for the rest of a four-game homestand, with Minnesota coming to town Saturday.
The loss ended a seven-game home winning streak for Boston, which fell to 13-5-1. Montreal is 12-3-4 and has collected at least a point in each of its last dozen games, a 9-0-3 run.
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