BOSTON -- Boston Bruins forward Tanner Jeannot and Montreal Canadiens forward Josh Anderson dropped the gloves at the opening faceoff of Tuesday night's game, renewing the long-running rivalry between the Original Six teams who are jockeying for position in the Eastern Conference standings.
Jeannot, who entered the game with 53 goals and 435 penalty minutes in his career, and Anderson (154 and 582) fought for about a minute while teammates on both benches banged their sticks against the boards in approval. The Bruins forward landed several blows before his Canadiens counterpart went to the ice, drawing a big roar and a chant of "U-S-A!" from the TD Garden crowd.
Midway through the first period of the contest that Montreal won 6-2, it happened again, with Boston's Nikita Zadorov and Montreal's Arber Xhekaj dropping their gloves off a faceoff in the Bruins' end. In all, there were nine penalties for 30 minutes in the first, with Boston taking a 2-1 lead on a power-play goal with 18 seconds left in the period.
The Canadiens entered the night tied for third in the East with 43 points, but a Boston victory would match them. The Bruins have won eight of the past 10 matchups between the teams, including a 3-2 win in Montreal on Nov. 15.
That game also featured several scuffles, including a fight at the opening faceoff. But the bigger problem for the Bruins had nothing to do with the fisticuffs: Star defenseman Charlie McAvoy was hit in the face by a slap shot, causing him to miss almost a month.
In the end Tuesday, Boston left with more worries than a few fights. Montreal scored four unanswered goals in the third period and ran away with an easy victory. Zack Bolduc, Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky authored those goals, two of which came on the power play.
The Bruins have now lost four in a row, and five of six. In their past two defeats, they have allowed 12 goals.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
