The Bruins were putting together a good defensive effort through two periods against the Canadiens. They were clamping down and forcing odd shots out of Montreal and not letting any Habs get comfortable in front of the net. It took the Canadiens 5:06 to get their first shot of the second period and the scoring opportunities had been few and far between.

Boston lit the red light again at 5:25 when Jaroslav Halak deflected a rebound off the stick of David Krejci that Blake Wheeler corralled and spit back at the Habs’ goaltender, off his shoulder and into the net for the 2-0 advantage. It is only the second time in the last six games that Boston has scored two goals, let alone two through the first two periods.

The only penalty of the period was to Bruins defenseman Matt Hunwick who took at a hooking call at 16:08. It led directly to the Canadiens first goal of the game as former Bruin Glen Metropolit crashed the net after his own shot from the point as the puck bounced around in front of Tuukka Rask and crashed the rebound home at 17:06. Montreal followed up immediately with an even strength goal from Roman Hamrlik at 17:45 to erase the Bruins lead and send the game to the third period tied at two.

Shots in the second period (total):

Bruins – 17 (32)

Canadiens – 9 (14)