On Saturday night, Danton Heinen scored his first career hat trick as the Boston Bruins easily defeated the visiting Montreal Canadiens 9–4.
The Bruins extended their point streak to eight games (5-0-3) by scoring at least twice in each of the final three periods of the contest.
For Boston, it was their first nine-goal effort since 2012. Sixteen skaters scored.
Pavel Zacha and Brandon Carlo also lighted the lamp, and David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, and Jake DeBrusk each scored a goal and an assist.
Linus Ullmark of Boston made 17 stops in his first game since January 9. His absence was due to a lower-body injury.
The game was Montreal’s second straight loss; Cole Caufield, Joel Armia, Mike Matheson, and Brendan Gallagher all scored, while Sean Monahan got three assists.
After taking 30 shots and giving up eight goals, Sam Montembeault was replaced by Cayden Primeau.
Boston took the lead with two goals in 49 seconds after the teams were knotted at three. At 10:46 in the second, Heinen scored a top-shelf goal after receiving a pass from Jesper Boqvist along the right side. At 11:35, Coyle scored a one-handed tip-in goal to make it 5-3.
Less than two minutes later, Gallagher scored his ninth goal of the season, bringing the Canadiens within 5-4.
1:26 into the third, Pastrnak restored Boston’s two-goal lead by capitalizing on his own rebound to reach the 30-goal milestone for the seventh time in his career.
At 4:32, Marchand scored the sixth goal for the Bruins with a one-time feed from Coyle.
At 9:13, DeBrusk spun around the net and dished the puck to Zacha for a tap-in, and at 10:40, Morgan Geekie set up Heinen to seal the victory.
At 9:18 in the first, Caufield opened the score on a power play. At 12:47, Carlo tied the knot.
At the 15-minute mark, Armia gave the Canadiens a lead once again as Joshua Roy set him up to finish high off the rush.
After James van Riemsdyk won a wall battle, DeBrusk drove to the post with 1:50 remaining in the first to make it 2-2.
In just 55 seconds, Boston took the lead when Matt Grzelcyk’s point shot was redirected into the net by Heinen’s skate.
At 6:16 into the second period, Montreal’s power play tied the score once more. Just outside the right circle, Monahan threw a ball back to Matheson for a one-time attempt.