MONTREAL — Viktor Arvidsson scored the winner at 16:51 of the second period as the Boston Bruins hung on for a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens in a heated game between the two Original Six rivals Saturday.
Marat Khusnutdinov and Mason Lohrei also scored for Boston (12-8-0), which won for the eighth time in nine games.
David Pastrnak added two assists and Jeremy Swayman stopped 28 shots for his fifth consecutive victory.
Cole Caufield and Jake Evans scored for Montreal (10-6-2), which lost its third straight on home ice and fifth game in six outings. The Canadiens were coming off defeats to Los Angeles and Dallas by a combined score of 12-1.
Sam Montembeault made 19 saves
The game started with two fights in the first five minutes before Khusnutdinov opened the scoring at 8:38 after Montembeault lost his net. Evans replied with a short-handed goal at 12:12, scoring on a 2-on-1.
Lohrei scored two minutes into the second period with a shot through a screen from the point to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead, which Arvidsson added to by finishing a between-the-leg feed from Pavel Zacha on the power play.
Caufield, with his team-leading 13th of the season, cut into the lead at 4-on-4 with a deke to the backhand with 76 seconds remaining in the middle period.
TAKEAWAYS
Canadiens: The power play continued to struggle. After a hot start to the season, the Canadiens went scoreless with the man-advantage for the fifth straight game, going 0-for-17 in that span. Montreal came up empty-handed on seven opportunities Saturday despite having two 5-on-3 power plays — one for 1:28, the other for 1:50.
Bruins: Top defenceman Charlie McAvoy exited midway through the second period after receiving a slap shot from Noah Dobson to the face. McAvoy immediately covered his face and dropped to the ice, while a team doctor rushed from the bench to help him.
KEY MOMENT
In a flashback to the 4 Nations Face-Off, Montreal’s Jayden Struble and Boston’s Nikita Zadorov fought off the opening faceoff as the Bell Centre erupted. Four minutes later, Canadiens bruiser Arber Xhekaj dropped the gloves with Bruins forward Tanner Jeannot.
KEY STAT
Pastrnak became the third player in Bruins franchise history to record an 11-game point streak against the rival Canadiens, joining Bobby Orr and Herb Cain.
UP NEXT
Bruins: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday.
Canadiens: Visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
