A Saturday night overtime loss in Montreal couldn’t help but leave Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery a bit confused with what he had just seen from his team.

Speaking with NESN’s Andy Brickley in the immediate aftermath of the 3-2 defeat, Montgomery noted that his team appeared tired and couldn’t necessarily understand why that was the case given his team’s schedule. (It’s also entirely too early for the ‘fatigue’ thing to become a real issue for the Bruins, especially looking at how their opponent came into this contest playing their third game in the last five nights.)

And to Montgomery’s point there, this only was the B’s third game of the week, and they even got Tuesday completely off after winning in Dallas the night before. Montgomery went on to mention the apparent fatigue in his postgame scrum with the assembled media, and said that it was something the team was going to have to look into moving forward.

It was a valid concern to have with his team after that loss, too, as the Bruins simply didn’t get enough from the club in this contest.

• Of course, almost any loss to the Canadiens will look uglier than a regular loss. Especially from a Boston point of view. But Boston’s rather tired-looking night started exactly like that, with just six shots in the opening 20 minutes of play, and just 13 by the second intermission.

  When the Bruins finally woke up, they were chasing a game thanks to the Canadiens scoring two goals in 27 seconds in the opening minute of the third frame, and were in the thick of playing catch-up. That, against a survivalist kind of team like the Canadiens, is always a recipe for disaster.

  With the sleepy-looking loss, the Bruins dropped to 11-1-2 on the season, and actually suffered their first loss to the Canadiens since Nov. 5, 2019.

  Here are the 98.5 The Sports Hub (dot com) 3 Stars from Montreal….

• No. 3 Star: Brendan Gallagher

  

  MONTREAL, CANADA – NOVEMBER 11: Brendan Gallagher #11 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates his goal during the third period against the Boston Bruins at the Bell Centre on November 11, 2023. (Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

• Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher really brought the juice in this one.

  On the ice for just 13:48 of time on ice, Gallagher built off the momentum of Nick Suzuki’s game-tying power-play goal with a strike of his own just 27 seconds later.

  Guhle point shot, and Gallagher takes the lead for the Habs from his office. pic.twitter.com/mH4LjZtGD3

  — Matt Drake (@DrakeMT) November 12, 2023

  It was one of Gallagher’s (team-leading) five shots on goal in the winning effort. The Canadiens also out-attempted the Bruins by a 16-7 mark, and outshot them 8-4, during Gallagher’s nearly 14-minute on-ice sample at five-on-five play.

• No. 2 Star: Jeremy Swayman

  

  Nov 11, 2023; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman (1) looks on during the second period of the game against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre. (Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports)

• One Bruins player who did bring it in this contest: Jeremy Swayman.

  In fact, Swayman was really the only reason the Bruins held a 1-0 lead through 40 minutes of action, as he had turned aside all 17 shots faced to that point. (And the Canadiens certainly had the chances to have more than a donut to their name to that point.)

  But even when the Canadiens took the lead, Swayman made sure it didn’t balloon out any further than the one-goal edge the B’s eventually erased, and got the team to overtime.

  The overtime loss did end Swayman’s bid for the once-probable perfect season (please don’t take this seriously), but Swayman is still sittin’ real pretty at 6-0-1 with a .942 save percentage this season.

• No. 1 Star: Kaiden Guhle

  

  MONTREAL, CANADA – NOVEMBER 11: Kaiden Guhle #21 of the Canadiens turns towards the spectators as he celebrates his overtime goal against the Boston Bruins at the Bell Centre on November 11, 2023. (Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

• With his overtime marker, the Canadiens’ Kaiden Guhle found the perfect make-up moment for being on the ice for Brad Marchand’s game-tying power-play goal.

  GUHLE GETS IT DONE! 👏
  
  Kaiden Guhle scores the @Energizer overtime winner for the @CanadiensMTL! pic.twitter.com/cn0KbRtB97

  — NHL (@NHL) November 12, 2023

  In addition to the game-winning goal, Guhle shot the puck that made its way to the net and to Gallagher for the go-ahead goal in the third period, and finished this contest with a hit, two shots, and a plus-2 rating.

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