The Bruins won a genuine coin flip — neither side controlled the run of play.
Montreal controlled the ice—55% of shot attempts—yet lost 3-2 to Boston in a game where expected goals split 4.80–4.82. That split said dead-even. The scoreboard begged to differ, and the answer sat between the pipes.
The Canadiens' evening vanished at the highest-leverage moments. They went 0/8 on high-danger chances, the kind of drought that hardens quickly into regret. Montreal's 55% shot advantage never translated downstairs; they scored twice off the rush on 29 chances but found nothing in the core. They underperformed their expected goals by 2.80, pouring possession into a game that wouldn't repay it.
Boston was equally silent on grade-A looks, going 0/9 on high-danger chances. Yet they broke through. Twice on the rush (26 chances), three times total—and that margin is J. Swayman. He stopped at 0.929 save percentage, 26 saves on 28 shots, in a performance that ran 2.80 goals better than expected. When both teams miss this badly—17 combined high-danger chances, zero conversions for Montreal, zero for Boston—the goaltender who turns that into a win becomes the differentiator.
S. Montembeault made 20 saves on 23 shots (0.870 SV%), yet it wasn't enough. Montreal's underperformance of their xG by 2.80 cost them. Boston, despite underperforming their 4.82 xG by 1.82, still found three. The asymmetry was Swayman's work.
Neither team crashed the crease with conviction: both created 5 rebound opportunities, both converted zero. Neither dominated the rush—Montreal 2/29, Boston 2/26. The game was an evenly distributed mess, which should have meant an evenly distributed result. Instead, one goaltender's save percentage wrote 3-2 across the scoreboard.
D. Pastrnak's 2 assists in 20:15 framed the attack. N. Zadorov added 1 in 21:05. For Montreal, N. Suzuki had 1 assist in 24:35.
