Patrice Bergeron broke a 1-all tie in the second period and the Boston Bruins downed slumping Montreal 4-1 on Tuesday night, leaving the Canadiens winless in five games.
Max Talbot, David Pasternak and Brad Marchand, with an empty-net goal, also scored for the Bruins, who won their third straight and avenged a 5-1 loss to Montreal in the NHL Winter Classic on Jan. 1. The teams wore their Winter Classic jerseys in the rematch.
Mark Barberio scored for the Canadiens, who led their division with a 19-4-3 record in early December, but are in a 4-16-1 funk. Montreal outshot the Bruins 39-24.
A trade has been anticipated to shake Montreal out of its lethargy and coach Michel Therrien’s job could be on the line.
The Canadiens came out strong, but fell behind at 13:08 of the opening period.
Mike Condon stopped Talbot on a breakaway, but Andrei Markov’s weak pass went straight back to Talbot and off the goalie’s glove.
Barberio tied it 8:48 into the second with a one-timer off a P.K. Subban feed from a tight angle that beat Tuukka Rask, who usually struggles against the Canadiens and is now 5-15-3 against them in his career.
Condon was bowled over by teammate Alexei Emelin as his clearing pass was picked off by Pasternak and fed to Bergeron for a goal at 16:49. Bergeron moved past Cam Neely into eighth place in Bruins history with his 591th career point.
Condon was slow to get to the far post as Pasternak, returning from an injury, circled the net and tucked one in at 12:14 of the third.
Montreal lost defenseman Nathan Beaulieu to a lower-body injury in the first period and winger Paul Byron to a lower-body injury in the third.
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