2016 NHL Winter Classic Preview: Canadiens Win Second Match-Up With Bruins 4-2
The Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens met in their second 2015-2016 regular season match-up tonight. The Canadiens defeated the Bruins, coming back from behind in the third period to win 4-2, according to Yahoo! Sports.
The meeting could be seen as a warm-up for the 2016 Bridgestone Winter Classic, scheduled to be played outdoors at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on January 1, according to the NHL.
Montreal and Boston last met on October 10 at the TD Garden in Boston, and the Canadians won 4-2, according to Yahoo! Sports.
Boston was first to score this evening in Montreal, early in the first period. After the Bruins were handed a power play for too many Canadiens players on the ice, winger Loui Eriksson was able to get one past Montreal goaltender Mike Condon.
Nineteen seconds into the second period, Boston center David Krejci was given two minutes for hooking. Then the Canadiens answered back with a goal, 40 second later. Center Tomas Plekanec scored the power play goal and was assisted by Brendan Gallagher and P.K. Subban.
Montreal right winger Torrey Mitchell was given two minutes for high sticking.
Boston scored again in the second, bringing the score to 2-0. Left winger Frank Vatrano scored just before the nine-minute mark and was assisted by center David Desharnais.
Boston center David Krejci was given two minutes for hooking at 14:25 in the second period.
Then, late in the third, things took a turn in Montreal’s favor when David Desharnais was able to draw a cross-checking penalty from Boston’s David Krejci, putting Boston down one player.
On the power play, Montreal quickly capitalized with a David Desharnais goal. The center’s goal brought Krejci out of the penalty box and evened the strength of the teams, but Montreal, with seemingly newfound confidence, was able to quickly score a second time in the third period; left winger Max Pacioretty hit an empty-netted ace, bringing the Canadiens ahead by 4-2, where the game finished.
The Canadiens are now 2-0 versus the Bruins in the 2015-2016 regular season.
The Montreal Canadiens released a video showing what their jerseys will look like for the upcoming 2016 Winter Classic.
“It is a new [jersey], but it’s not a new one,” the chief operating officer of the Montreal Canadiens, Kevin Gilmore, was quoted. “It’s a jersey that basically pays homage to our tradition, our history, whether it’s the ‘CH’ with the white, whether it’s the ‘LNH’ tag that pays tribute to the fact of the French heritage here for the team, so there’s a lot of things that went into creating that look.”
The Boston Bruins have unveiled a specially designed jersey, reminiscent of NHL jerseys from the early 20th century, for the Winter Classic, reports the NHL.
The blue in the Canadiens’ jersey is meant as a tribute to the first jerseys worn by the Canadiens as founding members of the National Hockey League in 1909.
November 2003 marked the first time the NHL tried the novel idea of attempting to stage professional hockey games in outdoor stadiums with the Heritage Classic, played between the Montreal Canadiens and the Edmonton Oilers. The event proved to be a huge success and inspired the 2008 Winter Classic series, which at first focused on American teams, and then included the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2014.
The Winter Classic series has been held every year since 2008, except in 2013, due to the NHL lockout.
The 2016 classic will be the Canadiens’ third outdoor game. Montreal took part in the inaugural Heritage Classic in 2003, and then in the second, against the Calgary Flames in Calgary, in 2011.
[Feature Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images]
