Let's hope this season's Winter Classic is more like the last 20 minutes of Wednesday night's game and rather than the first 40. The NHL treated us to a preview of the historic Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins rivalry that will grace national TV on Jan. 1 three weeks early, looking to ignite some storylines in time for the outdoor match.
NHL scores 2015: Montreal falters against Boston in Winter Classic preview
The Canadiens had control of a one-goal game, until an unfortunate mistake cost them the momentum.
Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
For the most part, and depending on your rooting interests, the proclaimed Wednesday Night Rivalry matchup disappointed. Montreal had the first goal of the evening nine minutes in on an odd deflection, then proceeded to dominate the chances, outshooting the Bruins 26-14 through the first two periods.
Then, something strange happened. Boston found themselves on a shorthanded breakaway eight minutes into the third period. A rare mistake by P.K. Subban while trying to keep the puck in the zone was batted down the ice by Zdeno Chara and Loui Eriksson found himself with the puck on his stick and open ice in front of him. Eriksson fought off the Canadiens defender all the way down the ice before sliding the puck five-hole on goaltender Mike Condon for the evening score. The forward took a beating on the follow-through, but the hard work paid off on Montreal's one mistake up until that point.
Boston took control of the game after Eriksson's tally, pouncing on a reeling Montreal team and making it 2-1, less than a minute later with Landon Ferraro sitting all alone in the slot. Patrice Bergeron finished the scoring five minutes later and halted any chance of a Canadiens comeback.
While bad luck certainly played into Boston’s first goal, Montreal’s defense was scattered on the final two Bruins tallies. Their game broke down after putting the Bruins in a chokehold through the first 48 minutes of play and Boston made them pay on what opportunities they had.
Montreal will be able to respond in just three weeks time, hopefully using their 12-minute collapse as a catalyst to keep Boston pinned down for good.
Scores
Edmonton Oilers 4, San Jose Sharks 3 (OT)
3 things we learned
1. The most offense of the night came in ... Edmonton?
Three hours into the evening of hockey, four games managed to produce just eight goals. We managed to pull out a few more by the end, but it was quiet a quiet evening in the creases all things considered. The only outlier was San Jose at Edmonton, who put together a combined five goals in the third period alone after the Oilers managed the only goal in the first 40 minutes. Given the names on the docket for Wednesday, one would have expected more offense from a Canadiens team or a Penguins team. Hockey, however, is a fickle beast and made us wait three hours into the evening for some high octane offense.
2. Penguins split road trip on Olli Maatta's two-point evening
Pittsburgh's young defenseman missed almost a month of action due to injury, but he's making up for it in his return. Maatta's two-point night against the Avalanche helped lift the Penguins over Colorado to finish Pittsburgh's West Coast road trip with an even 2-2 split. During the trip, Maatta had three goals and one assist during the final three games out west, finishing the week with his fourth goal of the year, a strange looper that fell in between the Colorado netminder and the goal post.
3. Brent Burns raised the bar for pregame warmups
Impact Moment
Dan Hamhuis took a slap shot to the face and it didn't end well. The Canucks defenseman left the game with less than 10 minutes left in the third period. Click the first tweet if you dare.
here's what happened to Hamhuis. still cleaning blood off the ice pic.twitter.com/ko0l8C2hV3
— Stephanie (@myregularface) December 10, 2015 Stat of the Night
2 U's 2 K's 2 points. At Bell Centre. Statement game by Tuukka Rask. Bruins were 1-10-2 in previous 13 vs Montreal.
— Jack Edwards (@RealJackEdwards) December 10, 2015 The important part of that tweet? This was the Bruins second win in 14 games versus the Canadiens.
See More:
