A season after watching their archrivals lift the Stanley Cup at their expense, the Montreal Canadiens had some consolation last Thursday when they defeated the Boston Bruins by a 2-1 score at the TD Garden.

When the defending Stanley Cup Champions jumped out to a first-period lead, the Habs looked like they would be relegated to another loss against their Bostonian rivals. However, the visitors struck twice—once each during the second and third periods—to send the Bruins to defeat.

The game started out with several nervous moments for the Bs, including a scramble for a loose puck in front of the net, but Bruins captain and defender Zdeno Chara was able to deflect the puck before a Canadien player could capitalize.

In evenly matched games, goals are often scored as a result of a great play or a fatal mistake. With five minutes, 55 seconds left in the first period, Montreal defender Tomas Plekanec sent the puck through the legs of his own netminder, Carey Price, to send the sold-out Garden into raptures.

Looking to build on their momentum from the first goal, the Bs came flying out of the traps at the beginning of the second, as forward Milan Lucic just missed a feed from linemate Nathan Horton.

Montreal almost leveled the score moments later, but winger Mike Cammalleri fired a shot that goalkeeper Tim Thomas snared. The Montreal forward, breaking in alone on Thomas, was prepared to tie the game at 1-1, but the Boston custodian spread himself wide to protect the goal to maintain the lead, resulting in raucous applause.

Despite his heroics to to keep the Bruins out front, Thomas would be beaten moments later. Left wing Eric Cole scored his second goal of the season as he redirected a shot from defenseman Jaroslav Spacek just past the game's halfway point, which evened the score. Boston center Rich Peverley broke in solo on Price with 5:45 left, looking to regain the lead for his team, but Price stood tall and kept the game level.

Boston's dominance in possession became more apparent as the game wore on, and it seemed that it would only be a matter of time before they recaptured the lead. However, the Canadiens went ahead when Plekanec fired a wrister that evaded Thomas and snuck into the net. With his goal, which went against the flow of play, momentum began to shift in favor of Montreal.

Down, but not out, the Bruins put the Canadiens on the ropes with Price sprawling to keep out a blast on the doorstep from Horton. However, the hosts would get no closer to an equalizer, crashing down to their sixth defeat of the season.

Bruins coach Claude Julien's diagnosis for his team's poor performance was rather straightforward:

"The inability to focus for 60 minutes is obvious and apparent," he said. "When you play the way you do the first period and seem to be heading in the right direction, then come out in the second period and play that way, it certainly shows a lack of focus and what that translated to was a lack of execution."

"I don't care where we are in the standings," Julien added. "What I care about is how we play, and right now, we're not playing at all to the level we should be."

Given their 3-7-0 start to the season, which leaves them last in the Eastern Conference standings, Boston has reason to be worried.

"It's one thing to see that we're right there, but that's not good enough," lamented forward Patrice Bergeron. "Right now it's about finding answers and not getting frustrated, not getting down on ourselves. We got the start that we wanted and found a way to get that first goal, ... but we couldn't follow up in the second period."

With some formidable tests in the near future, the Bruins must start finding the correct answers. Boston hosts the Washington Capitals tonight at 7 p.m. before traveling to Toronto to face the Maple Leafs.