MONTREAL — John Moore scored a power-play goal with 2:57 left and the Boston Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Saturday night in a hard-hitting and penalty-filled game.

David Backes and Jake DeBrusk also scored to help the Bruins win for the third time in four games. Tuukka Rask made 32 saves, and David Krejci had two assists.

Jonathan Drouin and Tomas Tatar scored in the third period for Montreal, and Carey Price stopped 32 shots. The Canadiens have lost four straight.

With Drouin in the box for high sticking, a double minor, Moore scored his first of the season from a tight angle.

Boston finished 1 for 6 with the man advantage, while Montreal was 1 for 5. The teams combined for 30 penalty minutes.

It was the second game of a back-to-back for both teams. Boston beat Pittsburgh 2-1 in overtime on Friday, while Montreal lost 3-2 in overtime in Buffalo.

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The Bruins took a 1-0 lead at 13:01 of the first period when Backes swiped the puck from Jesperi Kotkaniemi at the Montreal blue line before beating Price glove side for his first goal of the season.

With the teams playing 4-on-4, Debrusk doubled Boston’s lead at 14:42 of the first when he got behind defenseman Brett Kulak and tapped in a beautiful pass from Torey Krug.

Drouin got one back for the home team at 6:46 for his ninth of the season. Drouin beat Krug with speed in the Boston zone before squeezing a shot between Rask’s pads.

Tatar got the equalizer for Montreal on the power play at 10:09 of the third. With David Pastrnak in the box for slashing, Tatar took a pass from Andrew Shaw from behind the net and roofed a one-timer past Rask.

NOTES: The Bruins were without the injured Zdeno Chara (knee) and Patrice Bergeron (rib). … It was the second of four meetings between the Canadiens and Bruins this season.


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