Despite leading the Eastern Conference standings and ranking second in the NHL, the Boston Bruins have endured three winless streaks of at least three games since November.
Second-year head coach Jim Montgomery, however, believes that things just may be turning the corner again as his Bruins carry a three-game win streak into hosting the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
“We’re trending the right way,” Montgomery said. “You have peaks and valleys. … We’ve gotten results here since Christmas, but I think the last three games might be the best three consecutive games we’ve had all year, even including the start.”
The Bruins’ latest effort was a 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday in which star winger David Pastrnak scored his first hat trick of the season and the 16th of his NHL career.
Pastrnak opened Boston’s three-goal first period just 44 seconds into the game before tallying twice over the final 2:36 to cap his hat trick.
“We play with the lead a lot in the third period, so teams are gonna get their push and they get their chances,” Pastrnak said. “Earlier in the season, we kind of weren’t prepared for it. We got through times where teams came back on us. It made us only stronger.”
Several more players are in the midst of powerful runs for the Bruins, who have not taken a regulation loss since Jan. 4. Among them, Jake DeBrusk has 11 points over his last 12 games after posting another goal and an assist against Colorado.
“It seems to be getting repetitive here in the second half. It seems like every game is (DeBrusk’s) best game,” Montgomery said.
Boston’s lineup is also trending healthier. Goaltender Linus Ullmark is available again, while defensemen Derek Forbort (undisclosed) and Brandon Carlo (upper-body) could also be options for Saturday’s game.
The Canadiens had won back-to-back games before a 6-2 loss at Ottawa on Thursday, which marked their first time allowing more than three goals in seven games.
Cole Caufield scored for a fourth straight game, running his team-leading goal total to 15. Six of Caufield’s goals have been game-winners.
“It’s huge,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “He’s getting involved physically. He’s not just waiting for the puck to come to him. He’s going to the game.”
Michael Pezzetta also found the net against Ottawa, while Juraj Slafkovsky has lit the lamp in two of the last three outings.
St. Louis hopes that the loss in Ottawa will help the young Canadiens — who have 11 players under 25 years old — continue to grow.
“We’re a young group,” St. Louis said. “It’s hard to win in this league. I think that’s the next step for us. Sometimes I feel like is it tonight we’re taking the next step? We’ve gotten close. We haven’t done that yet, but we’re going to keep pushing for that.”
A recent addition to the Montreal lineup has been 20-year-old winger Joshua Roy, who scored his first NHL goal in his third career game — a 3-2 win at New Jersey — on Wednesday.
Roy is the youngest Quebec-born player to score a goal for the Canadiens since Guillaume Latendresse in 2007-08.
–Field Level Media
