The Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins have a longstanding rivalry. The division rivals simply don’t like each other, and never have. This was evident on Monday night, as a series of massive hits caused all-out chaos.
The ruckus started when defenseman Alexei Emelin crunched David Pastrnak across the boards with a high, hard hit. Per usual, the heavy hitter didn’t want to drop the gloves after crunching Pastrnak.
Seconds later, the Canadiens got the puck out of their zone and the Bruins got revenge. Andrew Shaw poked at the puck mid-ice, and defenseman Torey Krug absolutely trucked him with an open-ice hit. The hit blurs the line between being clean and dirty, as Krug made contact with his head as he bent over.
In the next faceoff, Krug fought with Canadiens pest Brendan Gallagher in a quick and spirited bout between the two lightweights. It’s sort of silly Krug had to drop the gloves a play after the hit, but he seemed like he was up for a spirited fight.
The hits will likely warrant some attention from the Department of Player Safety. Emelin’s hit was hard, but he appeared to make contact with Pastrnak’s shoulder. Meanwhile, depending on the league interprets Krug’s contact to Shaw’s head, he could miss some games.
