MTL@BOS: Game recap

BOSTON - The Canadiens fell short in their return from hiatus on Wednesday and were defeated 5-1 by the Boston Bruins at TD Garden.

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It was the Habs' first game since their New Year's Day contest in Florida, and they welcomed back a whole slew of players returning from COVID-19 protocol or injury. That list includes Ben Chiarot, Chris Wideman, Jeff Petry, Christian Dvorak, Joel Armia, Laurent Dauphin, Artturi Lehkonen, Mike Hoffman, and Jake Allen.
The teams remained scoreless for nearly 15 minutes of play, but Brad Marchand scored a pair of quick goals with just over five minutes to go in the first to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead.
Allen was replaced in goal by Sam Montembeault not long afterwards, and the team tweeted later in the game that Allen would not return.

Curtis Lazar scored with 50 seconds to go in the frame, and Boston headed to the room with a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes. Boston also pulled away with a 13-6 lead in shots.
Marchand made it a hat trick at the 7:10 mark of the second period.
The Habs broke Linus Ullmark's shutout bid several minutes later, when Michael Pezzetta scooped up a rebound from Brett Kulak's point shot and roofed it past the Bruins netminder to make it a 4-1 game.
It was Pezzetta's second career NHL goal, with his first also coming in Boston back on November 14.
Kulak earned a helper on the tally.

That's where things stood after 40 minutes, with Boston outshooting Montreal 15-9 in the second stanza.
In the third period, defenseman Urho Vaakanainen scored his first career NHL goal to pad the Bruins' lead and give them a 5-1 win over the Habs.
The Canadiens leave for Chicago immediately following the game. They'll face the Blackhawks on Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. ET in the second game of their back-to-back.