Late hit: Habs beat Chara, B's in wild game

Max Pacioretty and David Desharnais scored third period goals under four minutes apart to erase a one-goal deficit after 40 minutes and beat the Bruins, 4-3, Sunday night at TD Garden. The Canadiens overcame a career-high three assists from Brad Marchand to avenge a 2-1 loss to the Bruins on Feb. 6 in Montreal. The win also gives the Canadiens 32 points, two more than the second-place Bruins in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins had their six-game winning streak snapped and lost for just the third time this season in regulation, falling to 14-3-2 on the season.

The game was highlighted by several fights, including one involving Zdeno Chara. The Bruins captain was lost for 17 minutes late in the second period and over half of the third period when he fought Alexei Emelin, who moments earlier hit Tyler Seguin.

The Canadiens jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Tomas Plekanec took a centering pass from former Bruin Michael Ryder and partially fanned on the shot. But Plekanec got just enough of the puck to throw off Rask, who had the puck trickle past him just 21 seconds after Andrew Ference went off for an interference penalty.

The Bruins then turned up the intensity, thanks in large part to a big forecheck from Milan Lucic. Tyler Seguin tied the game when he took a pass from Patrice Bergeron and beat Peter Budaj. But the tie game lasted only 16 seconds as on the next rush up the ice, Dasharnais centered a puck for Pacioretty. The puck never reached Pacioretty and instead went off the stick of Johnny Boychuk and past Rask for a 2-1 Canadiens lead after 20 minutes. The Bruins set the tone, however, out-hitting Montreal, 15-8, in the opening period.

The Bruins dominated the second period from nearly every aspect, including the penalty kill. The Canadiens had a 5-on-3 power play for 70 seconds but thanks to zone clears by Lucic and Hamilton, the Bruins were able to kill off the entire two-man advantage, allowing just one shot on goal in the process.

Just prior to the two-man advantage, the Bruins reclaimed the lead on goals by Patrice Bergeron and Dougie Hamilton. Seguin fed Bergeron at the right post. Bergeron tried to stuff the shot past Budaj and finally got some help when Montreal defenseman Andrei Markov, crashing the net to help, kicked the puck past his own goalie with his left skate to tie the game, 2-2.

The Bruins took their only lead of the night just over five minutes later when Hamilton put himself on the low right of Budaj and turned his upper body just in time to take a pass from Marchand. Hamilton one-timed the shot from the bad angle past Budaj for a 3-2 lead.

The turning point of the game would come with 4:25 left in the second. Seguin was skating through the neutral zone with the puck when Emelin checked him to the ice. Seguin went down immediately, holding his left side and skating off slowing to the dressing room. Seconds later, Chara took revenge with a devastating check on Emelin, sparking a one-sided fight between the two. Chara was assessed a two-minute instigating penalty, five-minute fighting major and a 10-minute misconduct, adding up to 17 minutes of lost ice time for the Bruins top defenseman.

The Canadiens took advantage in the third period when Pacioretty fired a shot from the high slot past a screened Rask at 5:31 of the period. Just under four minutes later, a scrum in front of Rask resulted in a loose puck in the crease. David Desharnais came in and poked the puck into the open net as Rask scrambled for the puck, which was initially behind the net.

The loss was just the second in regulation this season at home, and the first since a 7-4 loss to the Sabres on Jan. 31. The Bruins are off until Tuesday when they play the Capitals in Washington.

For more from DJ Bean and Mike Petraglia at the Garden, visit the Bruins team page at weei.com/bruins.