Zacha Scores Twice in Bruins Overtime Loss to Canadiens

MONTREAL –– Andrew Peeke slid into the crease and got his body in front of a Nick Suzuki shot.

There were just over three minutes remaining in regulation, and the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens were locked at 2-2. Peeke dropped to his knees and hovered over the puck until Jeremy Swayman collected it, and the play was blown dead.

“I see him shooting, so I just tried to get in the net and play goalie for a sec,” Peeke said. “I just know that I can’t put my hand over the puck and cover it. So, tried to build a little bridge in between myself and, I guess, just take the whacks from there. It’s scrambled eggs at that point, so just continue to do what I can.”

Along with Pavel Zacha’s two-goal showing, Peeke’s moment between the pipes pushed the B’s to overtime, where they ultimately fell 3-2 to the Canadiens on Tuesday at Bell Centre to close out their road trip. Boston grabbed four of the six points available on the three-game swing.

“Guys worked extremely hard for 60 minutes,” head coach Marco Sturm said. “Coming in here on a back-to-back, in Montreal, to have a game like this – and they’re waiting for us, too – give my guys a lot of credit. They worked.”

Swayman was a key part of that effort, too, making 28 saves in his 45th game of the season.

“Really proud of the group and just the resilience. Knowing the importance of the game, the way that we played a full 60 – I think that was impressive and important this time of the year,” the netminder said.  

Despite facing the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center 24 hours prior, the Bruins got out to a strong start on Tuesday. Tanner Jeannot got a high stick to the face, drawing a four-minute power play for Boston just 25 seconds into the game. The Bruins took advantage of the opportunity.

Charlie McAvoy slid the puck over to David Pastrnak, who carried it down the right side and put it on net. Zacha, stationed in front, backhanded the rebound past Montreal goaltender Jakub Dobes to make it 1-0 at 2:22.

​It was Zacha’s 21st goal of the season, which tied his career-high, and his third power-play goal in the last seven games. McAvoy and Pastrnak each extended their point streaks to eight and seven games, respectively, with the assists.

“Good teammates, [he's] staying with it. But he’s just feeling it this year,” Sturm said of Zacha’s success. “He’s been very good. I give him the support, we give him the support.”

It was not long until Zacha set a new best for himself. Suzuki tied things 1-1 at 10:31 of the first, but Zacha regained the Bruins’ lead to open the middle frame. Casey Mittelstadt skated the puck into the zone and pushed it up to Viktor Arvidsson, who found Zacha down low for a tip-in tally at 5:41. It marked Zacha’s 22nd of the year (new career-high) and third goal in two games.

“We are clicking with our line, and it is a lot of fun playing with them. I also think power play helps a lot, too,” Zacha said. “We’re better on the power play than last year. That kind of gives you more of the looks and points there. Just have to keep building on that.”  

The Canadiens found the equalizer from Josh Anderson at 13:15, which sent the teams into the third period and, eventually, overtime, knotted 2-2. Zacha nearly completed the hat trick and secured the win with a breakaway shot in the five-minute, 3-on-3 period, but it was Cole Caufield who earned the extra point for Montreal at 4:38.

“Having a point again is good for us. But I think even in the third period, we had a good game. It’s just a shame we couldn’t win it in overtime,” Zacha said. “Overall, I think it was a good team effort. Sway was playing unbelievable.”

The Bruins return to TD Garden on Thursday to face the Winnipeg Jets.