Boston Bruins at Montreal Canadiens

Marchand scores 2, lifts Bruins past Canadiens in OT

Connor Clifton had a goal and an assist and Erik Haula had two assists for Boston. Jeremy Swayman stopped 26 shots.

“These are games that our fanbase gets jacked up about so it deserves a little more than playing another team,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “So let’s make sure that we’re focused, on time and ready.”

Joel Armia and Denis Savard scored for Montreal, and Jake Allen finished with 43 saves.

In the extra period, the Bruins brought the puck up the ice and Haula sent a pass in the middle to Marchand. Marchand skated in, faked to his left and went to his right and backhanded it past Allen for his 27th of the season.

Canadiens interim coach Martin St. Louis was proud of what his team left on the ice playing in the aftermath of trade deadline day. General manager Kent Hughes had traded away Artturi Lehkonen, Brett Kulak and Andrew Hammond hours prior and the Canadiens kept a close game against their rivals.

“Am I disappointed that we lost today? Yes,” St. Louis said. “But in the circumstances of what we’ve gone through today, and what we’ve gone through, I thought it was a really good effort by our team.”

The Bruins got on the scoreboard first after a Montreal turnover. Haula sent the puck over to Marchand in the crease and he tapped it in at 9:21 of the first period.

Savard tied it at 8:49 of the second on a delayed penalty advantage in his first game back from an ankle injury when his backhand shot from the high slot deflected off Boston's Derek Forbort and past Swayman.

Montreal's Alexander Romanov was called for tripping, giving the Bruin a power play in the final seconds of the second period. Marchand tried to send both teams to the second intermission with a one-timer but Allen robbed him with a glove save.

“I kind of knew it was going to come back just because of the way he kind of showboated on the save at the end of the second,” Marchand said. “I had to add a little extra on (the overtime goal) because that save so luckily we won.”

The Canadiens then got a short-handed goal at 1:13 of the third as Armia intercepted a pass from Marchand to Charlie McAvoy in the neutral zone and scored on a breakaway.

“I was just really happy that we didn’t lose because of that turnover,” Marchand said. “I kind of owe the group there and it felt good to be able to bounce back and produce (in overtime) after making such a bad play.

“It’s embarrassing when you make plays like that you feel like you let the whole group down and it’s tough to be on that side of it so to be able to bounce back from it, it was nice.”

Clifton tied it with just under 3 minutes remaining in regulation as he controlled Craig Smith’s pass with his skate before beating Allen for his second of the season.

UP NEXT

Bruins: Host Tampa Bay on Thursday night.

Canadiens: Host Florida on Thursday night.

BOS leads series 3-0