Charlie McAvoy and Charlie Coyle each scored twice as the Boston Bruins marked their 100th anniversary with a 6-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday afternoon.
McAvoy’s goals came at the start and end of Boston’s 4-0 run to begin the game, which included three goals in just 1:10 during the later part of the first period. This was McAvoy’s third career two-goal game.
Cole Koepke had a goal and an assist, and David Pastrnak also scored in his 700th career game for the Bruins, who improved to 4-2-0 under interim coach Joe Sacco with their second win over Montreal this season.
Jeremy Swayman played well in goal, making 26 saves in the win.
Cole Caufield scored twice for Montreal, Emil Heineman added one goal, and Nick Suzuki had two assists as the Canadiens reduced their 5-1 deficit to 5-3 in the third period.
Cayden Primeau made 24 saves for Montreal, which lost for the second day in a row.
McAvoy got Boston on the board at 11:45 of the first period by picking up a pass from Jordan Oesterle, driving down the right wing, and scoring on a wraparound shot past Primeau’s stick side.
Boston increased its lead to 2-0 at 12:40 after Primeau stopped Pavel Zacha’s close-range shot. Zacha quickly passed the puck to Pastrnak, who scored with a wrist shot from the right circle.
Fifteen seconds later, Coyle gave the Bruins a 3-0 advantage when he pulled back the rebound of Mark Kastelic’s shot and scored with a backhander.
The Bruins added another goal just 38 seconds into the second period. After Nikita Zadorov received a delay of game penalty, McAvoy broke away for a short-handed goal, beating Primeau to his right.
Montreal broke the shutout at 5:42 of the second period when Arber Xhekaj skated the blue line, cut to the right wing, and took a backhand shot that deflected off Caufield and past Swayman.
Coyle added another goal just 21 seconds into the third period, taking a pass from Koepke and scoring his second of the game.
Heineman got Montreal’s late rally started at 2:28, scoring from the top of the right circle on a pass from Jake Evans.
Caufield then brought Montreal within 5-3 at 6:38 with a wrist shot from the left circle off a pass from Suzuki.
Koepke sealed the win with an empty-net goal at 2:14 left.
The game was played exactly 100 years after the Bruins’ first-ever NHL game, a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Maroons on Dec. 1, 1924, at Boston Arena. Pre-game ceremonies included several alumni representing different eras in the team’s history.
